Irish Trade (Ireland Trade): Irish Exports (Ireland Exports), Irish Imports (Ireland Imports)

Ireland Foreign Trade
Ireland foreign trade and global economic policies

Ireland is divided into Northern Ireland and the larger Republic of Ireland. Policy members and business leaders on both sides of the border have called for economic unification of sorts by forming an “all-island economy”. This would reduce costs through economies of scale and increse competitiveness of both.

The electricity market already operates on an all-island basis, and plans to do the same for the gas market are in progress.

In the early 90s, the Irish economy began to gather momentum and by 2007 emerged as the fifth-richest in the world based on per-capita GDP, and the second-richest in the European Union, after Luxembourg.

Much of Ireland’s economy comes from its agriculture sector due to its expansive and fertile pastures and landscape.

It used to produce lumber but is now badly deforested. The same has happened in its once-large fishing industry which is now suffering from depleted cod and freshwater salmon and trout.
Ireland Exports

Ireland exports the following:

Cattle, beef, dairy products Zinc, lead, alumina Limestone, gypsum, silver, gold, copper, dolomite, barite Natural gas Computers and computer parts Software Pharmaceuticals Confectionery Beer Machinery Many multinationals have set up in Ireland which produce the wide range of products listed above for export. Some of them include IBM, Apple, Microsoft, Oracle, Google, eBay, Dell, Intel, Pfizer, Cadbury-Schweppes Ireland Imports 2007 imports to Ireland were valued at $90.4 billion. The leading importers to Ireland were the U.K. (37.5%), the U.S. (11.5%), Germany (9.6%) and the Netherlands (4.6%). Data processing equipment, machinery, petroleum, chemicals, and textiles were among the nation’s biggest imports. Ireland imports large amounts of wood, as it has no more of its own lumber industry due to heavy deforestation in the 1800s. In 2007, the country of nearly 6 million enjoyed a trade surplus of $34 billion, although it did have an $11.5 billion trade deficit with the UK. The largest category of goods Ireland imports is machinery and transport equipment ($30.8 billion in 2005), followed by chemicals and related products ($9 billion in 2005) and miscellaneous manufactured articles ($8 billion in 2005).