Value of exports of goods to Britain shed €500m

Exports of goods to Britain fell by almost €500m last year, while exports to most other parts of the world boomed.

The CSO figures published yesterday may be evidence the sharp drop in the value of sterling against the euro since Britain voted to leave last June is already hurting certain types of Irish firms, and agricultural products and food firms, in particular.

However, the uneven pattern of falls and then rises in exports to Britain— on which many jobs in Irish indigenous firms depend—clouds making definitive statements about the Brexit and currency effects on Irish trade for the time being.