Ireland's exports to China up 35% in July

DUBLIN -- Ireland exported over 1 billion euros (about $1.18 billion) of goods to China in July, up 35 percent when compared with the same month last year, according to the latest figures released by the country's Central Statistics Office (CSO).

Meanwhile, Ireland imported 541 million euros worth of goods from China in the month, up 17 percent year-on-year.

The July trade surplus stood at 463 million euros, 182 million euros more than that in the same month last year.

Both the growth rates of Ireland's exports to and imports from China in July were much higher than the growth rates of its total exports and imports recorded in the same month.

In July, Ireland's total goods exports and imports grew by 0.5 percent and 6 percent respectively.

During the January-July period of this year, Ireland exported a total of 6.336 billion euros worth of goods to China, up nearly 30 percent year-on-year, while its goods imports from China were valued at 3.362 billion euros, up nearly 15 percent over a year ago.

The CSO figures showed that in the first seven months, China was the 5th largest trade partner of Ireland both in terms of exports and imports.

In terms of exports, China ranked after the United States, Belgium, Germany and the UK. As for imports, China was after the UK, the United States, France and Germany.

The CSO figures also showed that China's shares in Ireland's total goods exports and imports had increased in the first seven months.

During the period, Ireland's exports to and imports from China accounted for 6.66 percent and 6.79 percent of its total exports and imports respectively, both up by about 1.2 percentage points when compared with the corresponding period of last year.

Ireland's total exports and imports were valued at 95.132 billion euros and 49.478 billion euros respectively in the first seven months.