Potatoes, onions, carrots and turnips among Ireland's highest imports, CSO finds
The Central Statistics Office has today (March 25) released Ireland's Trade in Goods statistics for 2024, showing a trade surplus of €89 billion.
In total, Ireland exported €223.7 billion worth of goods by the end of 2024 and imported goods totalled €134.7 billion.
The EU was our largest trading bloc and accounted for €88.4 billion in exports, as well as €49.8 billion in imports.
The US was the largest single trading partner, with overall exports being €73.5 billion and imports of €23 billion.
- When it came to goods exported, the most common were:
- Meat and poultry, valued at €3.9 billion.
- Butter and cheese are valued at €3 billion.
- Whiskey: valued at €954 million.
- Beer, valued at €330 million.
In terms of imports, the most common goods were:
- Fruit and nuts, valued at €563 million, and this included 96 tonnes of bananas and 56 tonnes of apples.
- Potatoes, worth €67 million, and 133,500 tonnes of prepared potatoes, valued at €245 million.
- Onions, worth €40.5 million.
- Carrots and turnips, valued at €27 million.
Discussing these findings, Annette Hayes, statistician at the CSO, said: “Ireland’s biggest goods trading surplus in 2024 was with the US. The value of exports was more than three times the value of imports, giving a goods trading surplus of €50.5 billion with the US.
"Ireland’s largest goods trade deficit in 2024 was with France, with €6.3 billion of goods exported and €14.2 billion imported, giving a goods trading deficit of €7.9 billion.
“Ireland also had a goods trade deficit of €6.9 billion with Asia in 2024. Exports were valued at €23.8 billion while imports from Asia were €30.8 billion, or 23% of our total goods imports. China accounted for €10.8 billion, or 35% of goods imported from Asia.
“Exports of Food & Beverages were valued at €17.3 billion, and imports were valued at just over €12 billion in 2024.
“The United Kingdom was our largest export partner for food and beverages with exports valued at €6.5 billion. It is worth noting that exports of Food & Beverages have risen by 34% or €3 billion since 2020. Looking at the Food & Beverages trade in further detail, Ireland exported and imported the following products in 2024.”