Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 26 June 2013
71. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the extent to which he has identified the top ten countries with which trade with this country has improved most appreciably in the past two years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31124/13]
View answerIreland’s exports have performed well over the past two years. The total value of merchandise exports in 2012 was €92 billion, representing an increase of 3.1% on the 2010 figure (€89 billion), while services exports for 2012 reached €90 billion; an increase of 21% on the 2010 figure (€74 billion). The markets which recorded the highest percentage increase for merchandise exports, over the period 2010 to 2012, were Tonga, Guam, Uzbekistan, Swaziland, Maldives, Nepal, Honduras, Guinea, Namibia and Nicaragua. Ranging between 333% and 11,200%, the increases were greater than for our more established trading partners. However, it should be noted that these increases were from much lower bases and the combined total of exports to these countries accounted for less than .03% of our total merchandise exports.
As the Deputy is aware, the Government Trade, Tourism and Investment Strategy identifies 27 priority markets, including those with the best prospects for increased trade. Local market teams headed by our Ambassadors are in place in these markets and their work is overseen by the high level Export Trade Council, which I chair.
Our priority markets include the UK, USA and many of our Eurozone partners, which are key markets for Ireland. The Government is also fully committed to developing and expanding engagement with key high potential markets such as the BRICS countries - Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa - which are all among our priority markets.
Our top 10 merchandise export markets by value in 2012 were, in fact, all priority markets: the United States, UK, Belgium, Germany, France, Switzerland, Netherlands, Spain, Italy and Japan. Our exports to a number of these countries increased strongly between 2010 and 2012, with notable growth in exports to Switzerland (42%), Japan (20%), Germany (17%), United Kingdom (10%) and the Netherlands (8%). This group does not include a number of other key export markets to where there was a significant increase in merchandise exports over the same period, such as Canada (40%), the Russian Federation (60%), India (46%), United Arab Emirates (36%) and Denmark (30%).
