Trade surplus bucks losing trend

Ireland’s monthly seasonally-adjusted trade surplus rose by nearly 8% in February, bucking a trend of two successive monthly declines.

However, the same month saw a 10% annualised fall in export value.

Preliminary CSO figures published yesterday showed that a 2.2% monthly rise in exports and a 2% fall in imports boosted the trade surplus for February to just under €3.13bn — nearly 8% up on the €2.9bn figure recorded in January.