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Goods exports up 15% in May – Minister Bruton

14th July 2014

The Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Mr Richard Bruton TD, today (Monday) welcomed the latest trade figures from the Central Statistics Office, which shows that goods exports, at €7.87bn, were up 9% in May 2014 compared to May 2013. The figures also show that on a seasonally adjusted basis, goods exports in May 2014 were up 15% on April 2014.

The main drivers of the increase were a rise in the value of exports of organic chemicals which are up 14% on May 2013 and medical and pharmaceutical products, up 12%.

The figures released today also show that exports in May to the US increased by 30% and to China by 29% compared to May 2013.

Commenting on today’s figures Minister Bruton said:

“At the heart of our Action Plan for Jobs is building a new sustainable economy based on exports and enterprise, and over the past three years we have seen strong performances in the exporting parts of the economy, with more than 25,000 jobs added. In the past twelve months in particular, however, these sectors have faced some challenges with the pharmaceutical patent cliff, although all the indications have shown that the underlying performance has remained strong.

“Today’s figures are very encouraging, with goods exports showing impressive year-on-year and month-on-month growth. What is particularly encouraging is that they appear to be driven by the pharmaceutical sector which has faced such challenges in recent months. These figures come on the back of the announcement by Enterprise Ireland last week that Irish exporting companies grew their exports by 8% in 2013. We have put in place measures to support companies to sell more goods and services abroad from Ireland, and my hope is that they can continue to build on today’s strong performance and ultimately create more jobs in Ireland”.