Tom Kitt, Minister for Trade today (Wednesday, 17th February 1999) welcomed the very positive trade performance recorded in the January to October 1998 trade figures which were released today by the Central Statistics Office. The value of merchandise exports for the period January to October 1998 totalled nearly £37 billion, an increase of 28% over the same period in 1997. The trade surplus for January to October 1998 totalled £11.3 billion, a 48% increase over the same period in 1997.

Merchandise exports for the month of October 1998 totalled £3.9 billion, an increase of 22% on October 1997, with the trade surplus for October 1998 totalling £1.2 billion.

Markets showing particularly strong growth for exports for the first ten months of 1998 included Germany, Belgium, UK and France. Merchandise exports showing very strong growth included computers and chemicals.

In addition, provisional trade figures for 1998 for Non-EU countries indicate that exports to the US increased by 53% to total £6.1 billion, the highest level of exports ever recorded by Ireland to the US. The US, followed by Japan and Australia, are our largest markets outside Europe.

Notwithstanding the positive trade performance in October and the 28% growth in January - October 1998 in the value of exports, the impact of the Asian crisis has seen a slowdown in the rate of growth of exports in October 1998.