Minister Kitt Welcomes Ireland's Strong Trade Performance in January - July 2001 "Even in the difficult international trading environment that we have experienced so far this year, Ireland export growth has remained strong", Minister for International Trade, Mr Tom Kitt TD.

The Minister for International Trade, Mr. Tom Kitt T.D., today (Thursday 25^th October 2001) welcomed figures issued by the CSO which show that Irish exports continued to grow strongly in the first seven months of this year.

The value of merchandise exports for January - July 2001 totalled £42.6 billion (€54.1 billion), an increase of 19% over the same period last year. Initial indications for August 2001 value exports at £5.4 billion (€6.9 billion). The European Union accounted for 61% of Ireland's exports and the Eurozone accounted for 37%. As regards our three largest trading partners, the United Kingdom accounted for 22% of exports, 17.5% of exports went to the United States and 13% to Germany.

Markets showing particularly strong growth included our three biggest export markets, the United States, Great Britain and Germany, with growth of 30%, 22% and 40% respectively. Non-EU markets showing healthy export growth include the Philippines (+97%) Malaysia (+58%), Mexico (+160%) and Switzerland (+51%).

The trade surplus for January - July 2001 totalled nearly £16.2 billion (€20.6 billion). Ireland's largest trade surplus was with Germany followed by the United States, Belgium, France and the Netherlands. Our trade surplus with these five countries totalled £11.1 billion (€14.1 billion).

Minister Kitt noted that, "Export growth, while moderating in the face of the international economic slowdown, is still very high and is exceeding our expectations.

"These figures show that even in the difficult international trading environment that we have experienced since earlier this year, Irish export growth has remained strong,", said the Minister. "Ireland's exporting sector is showing that it can remain competitive in our international markets in these difficult trading conditions despite strong competition.

"However, we continue to be conscious that rates of export growth have been moderating as the year progresses, reflecting the slowdown in many of our overseas markets".

The Minister continued, "Our efforts to diversify the export markets that are accessed by Irish companies will focus on seeking new business in both our existing markets and new niche markets in Europe, the Americas and Asia. While the Eurozone is our largest single market, the rapid growth of exports to non-EU markets show how diversified our exporting sector has become. This feature of our export success will remain an important component of our exporting sector's competitive ability to withstand the slowdown in our main markets"