Irish exports to Britain fall only slightly as British imports slump

Goods exports to Britain for the first three months of the year were down by only 3% from the same period in 2020, while imports from Britain fell by €2bn, according to CSO figures

Irish exporters selling into the key British market may be weathering the disruption caused by the new Brexit border on the Irish Sea, even as imports from Britain are down sharply, new CSO figures suggest. File picture

Irish exporters selling into the key British market may be weathering the disruption caused by the new Brexit border on the Irish Sea, even as imports from Britain are down sharply, new CSO figures suggest. 

At €3bn, goods exports to Britain for the first three months of the year were down by only 3% from the same period in 2020, despite the disruptions to trade and truck movements at Irish Sea ports. 

Exports of food and live animals to Britain accounted for part of the decline – sales across the Irish Sea fell to €648m from €871m in the same period in 2020. 

Food and live animal export sales were also down to EU countries, to €855m from €914m a year earlier.                 

However, the CSO figures show a sharp fall, by €2bn, across a wide range of imports from Britain, down by €2bn to €2.2bn in the first quarter.              

Seasonally adjusted goods trade surplus falls in March.https://t.co/i4K9prE4qq #CSOIreland #Ireland #Trade #IrishTrade #Exports #Imports #Businessstatistics #IrishBusiness #BusinessNews #Brexit pic.twitter.com/R8Of5zBdyj

— Central Statistics Office Ireland (@CSOIreland) May 19, 2021

The late agreement – on Christmas Eve – struck between the British government and the EU gave little time for truck firms and ports to prepare for the new rules to protect the EU single market across the island of Ireland.      

In March, exports to Britain rose by 13% to more than €1.2bn from a year earlier, with increased sales of chemicals and machinery and transport equipment, but imports from Britain were down sharply from March 2020.

Recent surveys suggest that Irish factories are booming to meet world demand, which suggests that exports of pharma and IT goods will rise again sharply this year.          

Aidan Flynn, general manager for the trucking firms business group, Freight Transport Association Ireland, said the question in January was how long it would take for the initial shock of the new border to last. 

"A level of normalcy is returning," Mr Flynn said, and he highlighted that more goods are being brought in through ports like Larne and Belfast in the North as truck movements change to take account of the new Irish Sea border.

On the drop of imports from Britain, he said the reopening of clothing shops across Ireland may bolster the figures because so many of their goods are shipped directly from Britain.  

The CSO said that under the new Irish Sea protocol which was struck in December, the North "is legally part of the customs territory of the UK, but effectively remains within the EU Single Market for the movement of goods". 

"In practice, this means that trade in goods with Northern Ireland continue to be reported on the Intrastat survey and on Vat returns," the CSO said.