Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Thursday, 25 Apr 1957

Vol. 161 No. 4

Written Answers. - Imports and Exports.

Mr. Sweetman

asked the Taoiseach if he will state the value for the year ended 31st March, 1957, of (a) total imports, (b) total exports, and (c) import excess.

The Taoiseach

In the year ended 31st March, 1957, total imports amounted to £176,008,000, total exports amounted to £116,500,000 and the import excess was £59,508,000. The figures for March, 1957, included in these totals are provisional estimates only.

Mr. Sweetman

asked the Taoiseach if he will state the value of (a) imports from and (b) exports to each European country for each year since 1948, and the import or export excess, as the case may be, of our trade with each such country.

The Taoiseach

Following is the information required:—

Trade with European countries in each year 1948-56.

(Imports are shown by country of origin and re-imports have been excluded. Exports are shown by country of final destination and Shannon Free Airport is included as a separate Customs area.)

Country	Year	Imports	Total Exports	Import excess
		£	£	£
Austria	1948	16,667	10,848	5,819
	1949	14,647	8,277	11,870
	1950	151,309	49,153	102,156
	1951	414,052	113,375	300,677
	1952	213,871	30,952	182,419
	1953	314,508	21,770	292,828
	1954	398,974	56,145	342,829
	1955	492,880	26,655	466,225
	1956	306,636	17,562	289,074
Belgium	1948	2,558,498	1,462,501	1,095,997
	1949	1,984,752	1,309,750	675,002
	1950	2,297,848	506,270	1,791,578
	1951	4,489,770	1,067,586	3,422,184
	1952	3,692,301	1,458,793	2,233,508
	1953	3,586,188	1,224,903	2,361,285
	1954	2,967,815	1,525,779	1,442,036
	1955	3,793,257	1,613,325	2,179,932
	1956	2,976,620	1,921,863	1,054,757
Bulgaria	1948	30,842	—	30,842
	1949	10,702	—	10,702
	1950	3,644	—	3,644
	1951	12,814	—	12,814
	1952	3	—	3
	1953	—	—	—
	1954	—	—	—
	1955	18	—	18
	1956	8,628	—	8,628
Channel Islands	1948	4,079	2,849	1,230
	1949	3,029	2,971	58
	1950	1	5,078	—5,077†
	1951	88	38,839	—38,751†
	1952	465	24,732	—24,267†
	1953	313	25,596	—25,283†
	1954	2,862	42,798	—39,936†
	1955	70	23,656	—23,586†
	1956	16,445	44,082	—27,637†
Czechoslovakia	1948	418,627	76,639	341,988
	1949	258,402	6,973	251,429
	1950	488,273	68,874	419,399
	1951	917,360	23,104	894,256
	1952	394,047	5,204	388,843
	1953	307,620	115,597	192,023
	1954	278,442	100,392	178,050
	1955	260,498	33,823	226,675
	1956	390,339	63,158	327,181
Denmark	1948	301,242	33,736	267,506
	1949	451,839	75,126	376,713
	1950	535,913	126,803	409,110
	1951	1,823,853	84,115	1,739,738
	1952	888,708	32,681	856,027
	1953	1,431,658	50,265	1,381,393
	1954	872,300	61,704	810,596
	1955	778,254	63,193	715,061
	1956	862,513	53,100	809,413
Finland	1948	1,347,656	77,453	1,270,203
	1949	1,764,797	15,352	1,749,445
	1950	2,552,535	50,126	2,502,409
	1951	2,892,536	154,021	2,738,515
	1952	2,125,736	123,184	2,002,552
	1953	1,875,773	4,402	1,871,371
	1954	2,826,785	420,084	2,406,701
	1955	3,502,686	139,372	3,363,314
	1956	3,754,207	119,800	3,634,407
France	1948	1,130,380	210,328	920,052
	1949	1,808,162	218,755	1,589,407
	1950	2,536,276	620,388	1,915,888
	1951	3,031,688	907,186	2,124,502
	1952	2,081,395	1,411,151	670,244
	1953	3,256,832	452,209	2,804,623
	1954	3,354,874	391,404	2,963,470
	1955	3,056,500	807,369	2,249,131
	1956	2,393,368	3,594,593	—1,201,225†
Germany, Eastern	1948	—	—	—
	1949	13,946	—	13,946
	1950	12,001	—	12,001
	1951	96,723	—	96,723
	1952	127,952	25	127,927
	1953	68,747	434	68,313
	1954	121,119	400	120,719
	1955	39,443	398	39,045
	1956	141,969	—	141,969
Germany (Federal Republic)	1948	171,362	74,984	96,378
	1949	455,108	397,935	57,173
	1950	1,915,249	1,465,665	449,584
	1951	4,572,921	1,181,099	3,391,822
	1952	5,390,624	888,668	4,501,956
	1953	5,274,631	916,656	4,357,975
	1954	7,347,892	1,787,765	5,560,127
	1955	9,552,571	1,457,576	8,094,995
	1956	7,004,591	2,327,048	5,577,543
Gibraltar	1948	2	16	—14†
	1949	—	530	—530†
	1950	—	140	—140†
	1951	956	176	780
	1952	3,370	2,120	1,250
	1953	—	775	—775†
	1954	—	5,694	—5,694†
	1955	—	8,557	—8,557†
	1956	—	17,736	—17,736†
Great Britain	1948	71,334,386	35,466,886	35,867,500
	1949	72,300,242	46,090,779	26,209,463
	1950	81,993,684	54,273,203	27,720,481
	1951	93,001,573	57,650,310	35,351,263
	1952	85,074,602	73,150,253	11,924,349
	1953	90,080,405	86,065,753	4,023,652
	1954	97,417,135	85,565,976	11,851,159
	1955	104,453,403	80,990,590	23,462,813
	1956	99,569,367	70,851,999	28,717,368
Greece	1948	147,768	112	147,656
	1949	731,220	16,377	714,843
	1950	1,650,125	68,254	1,581,871
	1951	1,595,354	22,841	1,572,513
	1952	764,512	39,132	725,380
	1953	519,179	126,075	393,104
	1954	270,783	2,927	267,856
	1955	435,085	7,031	428,054
	1956	250,242	98,859	151,383
Hungary	1948	26,441	5,513	20,928
	1949	18,193	44,070	—25,877†
	1950	12,759	14,358	—1,599†
	1951	2,558	48	2,510
	1952	11,311	—	11,311
	1953	81	—	81
	1954	4,375	7	4,368
	1955	31,764	—	31,764
	1956	57,810	—	57,810
Iceland	1948	25,236	21,309	3,927
	1949	72,501	24,375	48,126
	1950	69,740	25,142	44,598
	1951	78,500	54,670	23,830
	1952	86,258	27,076	59,182
	1953	190,525	20,563	169,962
	1954	220,483	11,127	209,356
	1955	128,390	8,881	119,509
	1956	132,306	7,733	124,573
Italy	1948	505,804	191,034	314,770
	1949	503,079	108,611	394,468
	1950	980,941	114,827	866,114
	1951	1,994,985	577,495	1,417,490
	1952	1,230,014	307,473	922,541
	1953	2,077,706	175,946	1,901,760
	1954	1,372,120	310,078	1,062,042
	1955	1,776,259	369,874	1,406,385
	1956	1,564,308	680,038	884,270
Luxembourg	1948	199,826	931	198,895
	1949	134,359	2,429	131,930
	1950	150,069	—	150,069
	1951	346,636	249	346,387
	1952	181,145	—	181,145
	1953	102,147	—	102,147
	1954	210,766	164	210,602
	1955	209,674	2,931	206,743
	1956	163,521	5,346	158,175
Malta and Gozo	1948	9	1,197	—1,188†
	1949	147	415	—268†
	1950	873	45,145	—44,272†
	1951	1	92,692	—92,691†
	1952	143	102,107	—101,964†
	1953	175	55,240	—55,065†
	1954	—	52,047	—52,047†
	1955	2,513	54,258	—51,745†
	1956	60	45,121	—45,061†
Netherlands	1948	2,152,576	1,756,194	396,382
	1949	3,157,173	1,422,276	1,734,897
	1950	2,914,874	2,005,232	909,642
	1951	5,100,568	1,181,407	3,919,161
	1952	6,410,412	1,709,847	4,700,565
	1953	8,672,612	632,687	8,039,925
	1954	5,334,381	702,823	4,631,558
	1955	5,253,995	626,679	4,627,316
	1956	4,777,481	1,779,139	2,998,342
Norway	1948	186,864	18,605	173,259
	1949	245,220	15,871	229,349
	1950	284,188	18,109	266,079
	1951	522,834	76,250	446,584
	1952	522,125	26,530	495,595
	1953	417,205	38,349	378,856
	1954	457,592	147,559	310,033
	1955	571,517	73,926	497,591
	1956	665,453	66,962	598,491
Poland	1948	192,402	700	191,702
	1949	250,176	10,296	239,880
	1950	1,023,635	—	1,023,635
	1951	1,271,377	—	1,271,377
	1952	115,291	—	115,291
	1953	2,538	—	2,538
	1954	7,549	—	7,549
	1955	33,412	—	33,412
	1956	33,696	—	33,696
Portugal	1948	510,170	11,630	498,540
	1949	456,201	17,396	438,805
	1950	465,544	39,135	426,409
	1951	791,154	100,409	690,745
	1952	629,821	68,197	561,624
	1953	792,143	46,045	746,098
	1954	735,910	61,987	673,923
	1955	813,032	64,738	748,294
	1956	572,713	100,122	472,591
Roumania	1948	2,917	89	2,828
	1949	8,206	—	8,206
	1950	—	—	—
	1951	—	—	—
	1952	149	—	149
	1953	—	—	—
	1954	34,857	—	34,857
	1955	998,538	—	998,538
	1956	622	—	622
Shannon Free Airport	1948	—	483,847	—483,847†
	1949	—	557,878	—557,878†
	1950	—	823,665	—823,665†
	1951	—	774,276	—774,276†
	1952	—	1,206,990	—1,206,990†
	1953	—	1,418,317	—1,418,317†
	1954	—	1,727,670	—1,727,670†
	1955	—	2,353,048	—2,353,048†
	1956	—	2,566,424	—2,566,424†
Spain	1948	942,668	252,701	689,967
	1949	736,951	247,425	489,526
	1950	985,028	168,888	816,140
	1951	1,487,108	618,742	868,366
	1952	1,362,352	834,984	527,368
	1953	1,492,918	219,860	1,273,058
	1954	989,295	371,701	617,594
	1955	1,112,725	703,273	409,452
	1956	1,082,652	880,983	201,669
Sweden	1948	2,379,722	153,957	2,225,765
	1949	2,701,188	298,338	2,402,850
	1950	3,668,203	638,189	3,030,014
	1951	5,928,727	293,457	5,635,270
	1952	3,174,904	348,429	2,826,475
	1953	3,831,941	380,780	3,451,161
	1954	3,625,801	470,735	3,155,066
	1955	3,640,507	258,002	3,382,505
	1956	3,509,709	300,153	3,209,556
Switzerland	1948	396,567	395,422	1,145
	1949	469,201	83,195	386,006
	1950	679,886	345,235	334,651
	1951	802,131	636,616	165,515
	1952	1,396,879	434,107	962,772
	1953	1,228,354	78,826	1,149,528
	1954	1,240,597	103,114	1,137,483
	1955	1,271,794	88,048	1,183,746
	1956	794,160	126,453	667,707
The Six Counties	1948	2,163,709	7,616,425	—5,452,716†
	1949	2,317,548	8,383,143	—6,065,595†
	1950	2,388,434	8,483,566	—6,095,132†
	1951	2,662,803	10,804,510	—8,141,707†
	1952	2,567,374	14,309,130	—11,741,756†
	1953	2,411,238	17,259,273	—14,848,035†
	1954	2,741,032	16,618,191	—13,877,159†
	1955	3,032,872	15,242,966	—12,210,094†
	1956	3,312,478	15,725,616	—12,413,138†
Trieste	1948	—	—	—
	1949	—	6,620	—6,620†
	1950	—	33,226	—33,226†
	1951	—	11,078	—11,078†
	1952	17	39,485	—39,468†
	1953	1,623	60,038	—58,415†
	1954	—	16,833	—16,833†
	1955	‡	‡	‡
	1956	‡	‡	‡
Turkey	1948	437,035	18,746	418,289
	1949	108,271	124,102	—15,831†
	1950	552,952	—	552,952
	1951	843,385	770	842,615
	1952	272,187	783	271,404
	1953	406,770	1,764	405,006
	1954	244,150	24,600	219,550
	1955	119,604	43,512	76,092
	1956	123,786	10,319	113,467
U.S.S.R.	1948	5,182	—	5,182
	1949	33,796	—	33,796
	1950	18,376	—	18,376
	1951	174,046	—	174,046
	1952	60,279	—	60,279
	1953	295,080	—	295,000
	1954	206,159	—	206,159
	1955	305,893	—	305,893
	1956	291,892	6	291,886
Yugoslavia	1948	3,513	25,024	—21,511†
	1949	14,986	—	14,906
	1950	74,585	—	74,585
	1951	87,625	—	87,625
	1952	14,905	—	14,905
	1953	8,491	—	8,491
	1954	17,816	50	17,766
	1955	30,709	—	30,709
	1956	25,353	31	25,353

† A minus sign (—) denotes an excess of exports.

‡ Included with Italy

Mr. Sweetman

asked the Taoiseach if he will state the value of imports for each of the years 1948 to date under the following classifications, viz. (1) producers' capital goods ready for use, (2) consumption goods ready for use under the headings (a) food, drink and tobacco, and (b) other consumption goods; (3) materials for further production under the headings (a) for agriculture and (b) other materials; and (4) unclassified; and the percentage each such classification forms of total imports.

The Taoiseach

Following is the information required:—

DISTRIBUTION OF IMPORTS IN EACH YEAR 1948-1956 ACCORDING TO MAIN USES.

Use category	1948	1949	1950	1951	1952	1953	1954	1955	1956
	Value (£ million)
Producers' capital goods ready for use	12.1	11.6	12.4	15.8	19.4	20.9	21.1	20.0	23.7
Consumption goods ready for use	39.0	35.8	41.8	57.3	42.3	45.2	44.0	48.7	39.3
Food, drink and tobacco	12.7	10.1	13.1	20.3	13.1	15.0	13.5	15.9	10.4
Other	26.3	25.6	28.7	36.9	29.3	30.3	30.5	32.8	28.9
Materials for further production	82.0	79.2	102.6	128.6	105.4	111.0	108.7	128.7	111.0
For agriculture*	3.6	4.1	5.0	6.3	5.5	7.4	9.0	10.0	8.7
Other	78.5	75.1	97.2	122.3	99.9	103.7	99.8	118.7	102.2
Unclassified	3.2	3.6	2.9	3.0	5.2	5.3	6.0	6.9	6.9
Total	136.3	130.2	159.4	204.6	172.3	182.5	179.9	204.3	180.9
	Percentage Distribution
Producers' capital goods ready for use	8.9	8.9	7.8	7.7	11.2	11.5	11.7	9.8	13.1
Consumption goods ready for use	28.6	27.5	26.2	28.0	24.6	24.8	24.5	23.9	21.8
Food, drink and tobacco	9.3	7.8	8.2	9.9	7.6	8.2	7.5	7.8	5.8
Other	19.3	19.7	18.0	18.1	17.0	16.6	17.0	16.1	16.0
Materials for further production	60.2	60.8	64.1	62.9	61.2	60.8	60.5	63.0	61.3
For agriculture*	2.6	3.2	3.2	3.1	3.2	4.0	5.0	4.9	4.8
Other	57.6	57.7	61.0	59.8	58.0	56.8	55.5	58.1	56.5
Unclassified	2.3	2.8	1.8	1.4	3.0	2.9	3.4	3.4	3.8
Total	100.-	100.-	100.-	100.-	100.-	100.-	100.-	100.-	100.-

* Imports of materials for agriculture, e.g., maize, which were processed in this country before use have been included in "Materials for further production—Other."