Minister for Trade and Commerce reacts to Trade Figures

The Minister for Trade and Commerce, Mr. Michael Ahern, T.D., gave a cautious welcome to the trade figures issued today (Friday 29^th October 2004) by the CSO. The figures show an increase in the value of exports of 4% for the January - July period, with preliminary figures for August showing that the rate of increase was maintained in that month.

"The figures demonstrate that Irish exports are more than holding their own in a very competitive international market," commented the Minister. "Given the relatively high level of the Euro against the US Dollar and the pound Sterling, in particular, this is very encouraging."

The US and the UK account for over 37% of Irish exports, with the US now firmly established as Ireland's largest export market, taking 20.2% of the total.

The EU (including the UK) again increased its importance as an export market, and it now accounts for 62% of total exports. Exports to the EU increased by 5.5% in the January - July period, reaching more than €30 billion.

Pacific markets (Australia, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand) are also increasing in importance, and exports there rose by 14.8% in value in the first seven months over the same period in 2003. They now account for 8.5% of total exports, compared with 7.7% in the same period last year.

Minister Ahern gave his reaction from Zurich, where he has been leading a delegation of 19 Irish companies on a mission to develop their corporate relations with key Swiss partners. Switzerland was Ireland's eighth largest export market in 2003, and is our seventh largest source of investment. In the period January - June this year, exports have risen by 4.5%, reaching over €1.7 billion.

The Irish companies participating in the trade mission to Switzerland are drawn from the ICT, engineering, medical and education sectors. Their Swiss partners attending the promotion are from some of the world's leading companies, such as Novartis and Roche in the medical/pharmaceutical sector and Credit Suisse and UBS in the financial services sector.

"This mission is a good example of the Government's pro-active approach to improving our trading position," said the Minister, "with top quality Irish companies building their relations with world-leaders based in Switzerland".