Irish goods exports to Great Britain increased by nearly 70% in the last year, according to new figures published on Monday.
The figures, released by the Central Statistics Office, also show that Irish goods imports from Great Britain dropped by 32% in the first half of 2021 – a drop of 2.5 billion euros compared to the first half of 2020.
Exports of goods from Ireland to Great Britain jumped to 1.42 billion euro in June 2021 – an increase of 68% from the same time last year.
Seasonally adjusted goods trade imports increased by â¬320 million in Junehttps://t.co/tqV0PtlDPA #CSOIreland #Ireland #Trade #IrishTrade #Exports #Imports #Businessstatistics #IrishBusiness #BusinessNews #Brexit pic.twitter.com/rAMkupbueA
— Central Statistics Office Ireland (@CSOIreland) August 16, 2021
At the same time, Irish imports from Great Britain declined by 16% over the same period of time – dropping to 1.1 billion euros.
Food, live animals and manufactured goods imports saw the largest drop off since June 2020.
Since January 2021, Great Britain is no longer part of the EU’s single market or customs union – making trade between Ireland and Great Britain more complicated.
The figures suggest that the UK’s exit from the EU has had an impact on trade between Northern Ireland and the Republic, with imports from Northern Ireland in the first half of 2021 significantly higher than the same period last year.
Imports from Northern Ireland increased to 1.8 billion euro between January and June 2021, compared with 998 million euro in 2020.
At the same time, the figures show that Irish exports to Northern Ireland grew 42% in the first half of 2021 – rising to 1.6 billion euro compared with 2020.
Under the Northern Ireland Protocol, Northern Ireland remains in the customs territory of the UK – but customs checks and controls are applied to goods moving from Great Britain to Northern Ireland.
Northern Ireland also remains effectively in the EU’s single markets for goods.
Overall, seasonally adjusted goods exports from Ireland increased by 139 million euros in June 2021, a 1% increase, since May 2021.
This means the figures remove any changes that may occur due to seasonal trade patterns.
According to the latest figures, exports to Great Britain account for 10% of Ireland’s total exports – the corresponding figure for the EU is 36%.
Total goods imports from the EU to Ireland jumped by 50% in the last year.