Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 9 April 2019
167. Deputy Maureen O'Sullivan asked the Minister for Finance the number of goods import transactions for companies, individuals and firms in 2018 in Irish-UK trade; the number of goods export transactions for companies, individuals and firms for the same year; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16745/19]
Amharc ar fhreagraA breakdown of goods export and imports transactions to and from the UK by company, individual and firm level is not available from the Central Statistics Office (CSO).
However, the CSO has produced a detailed insight into Ireland’s trade with the UK in terms of enterprise size, in their publication titled ‘Irish Traders and the UK 2016’ released on the 3rd of October 2018. This is a new publication by the CSO which analyses goods exports and imports with the UK in terms of the activity and size of the enterprises trading. It describes who is trading with the UK rather than what is being traded. The Trade by Enterprise Characteristics data (TEC data) published in the document cover enterprises with annual imports or exports of more than €5,000. Enterprise size is determined by the number of employees. Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) include micro (less than 10 employees), small (10 to 49) and medium enterprises (50 to 249). Large enterprises have 250 employees or more.
The most recent publication shows that approximately 60 per cent of the total value of goods exports to the UK in 2016 with a value of €8.3 billion was from SMEs. The remaining 40 per cent was from large enterprises who exported €6.2 billion of goods to the UK.
For goods imports from the UK, SMEs accounted for almost two thirds, with a value of €13.1 billion. Of this amount, €4.9 billion, a quarter of all UK imports, was imported by micro enterprises. Large enterprises imported €6.5 billion, or one-third of all imports from the UK.
For more information please see the table below from the CSO’s publication.
Table 1. Exports by size of enterprise 2016
|
Enterprise size |
€million |
% of value |
Number of enterprises exporting to the UK |
% of total number of enterprises |
|
Micro |
2,595 |
17 |
3,913 |
58 |
|
Small |
1,853 |
12 |
1,807 |
27 |
|
Medium |
3,831 |
26 |
590 |
9 |
|
SMEs |
8,280 |
56 |
6,310 |
93 |
|
Large |
6,219 |
42 |
176 |
3 |
|
Unknown |
352 |
2 |
294 |
4 |
|
Total |
14,851 |
100 |
6,780 |
100 |
Micro (0-9 employees), Small (10-49 employees), Medium (50-249 employees), Large (over 250 employees).
Source: CSO (2018) ‘Irish Traders and the UK 2016’; Table 5.
Table 2. Imports by size of enterprise 2016
|
Enterprise size |
€million |
% of value |
Number of enterprises importing from UK |
% of total number of enterprises |
|
Micro |
4,902 |
24 |
17,683 |
67 |
|
Small |
3,808 |
19 |
5,463 |
21 |
|
Medium |
4,342 |
21 |
1,344 |
5 |
|
SMEs |
13,053 |
64 |
24,490 |
93 |
|
Large |
6,502 |
32 |
426 |
2 |
|
Unknown |
961 |
5 |
1,401 |
5 |
|
Total |
20,515 |
100 |
26,317 |
100 |
*Micro (0-9 employees), Small (10-49 employees), Medium (50-249 employees), Large (over 250 employees).
Source: CSO (2018) ‘Irish Traders and the UK 2016’; Table 6.
I have been informed that the CSO intends to publish an update of this study, which will include 2017 data, in the coming months.
