Worst Year for Exporters

Although Irish exports are still performing relatively strongly, this past year has been one of the worst years on record for traditional Irish manufacturers trying to sell in export markets. Exports of goods and services fell to €154 billion, down 1%. Apart from life sciences, export sales dropped by €6.1 billion.

Another huge problem for Irish exporters was caused by the excange rates, especially with the sterling pound. As the UK is Ireland’s main export market, these difficulties caused a decline of 16%. It is estimated that sales of nearly €2.5 billion were lost due to exporters being forced to abandon that market. Unless the currency is able to return to the normal trading levels, an average of 80p to the euro, an increase of exports to the UK in 2010 is unlikely.

On the positive side, there was a rise of 12% with chemical and pharmaceutical exports, as well as an increase of 4% with medical devices. "The 2009 growth in pharmaceutical and medical devices exports confirms Ireland is one of the leading international locations for the life science industry," said Mr Whelan, from the Irish Exporters Association. The life sciences area generates over 60% of our merchandise exports making Ireland the largest net exporter of medicines globally.

Source - http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2010/0107/breaking33.html