Ireland's imports from China more than double in first three quarters: statistics

DUBLIN, Nov.15 (Xinhua) -- Ireland's goods imports from China more than doubled in the first three quarters of this year compared with the same period last year, according to seasonally unadjusted figures released by the country's Central Statistics Office on Tuesday.

In the first nine months of 2022, Ireland imported 11.57 billion euros (11.95 billion U.S. dollars) worth of goods from China, up 101.33 percent year-on-year, making China the third largest source of goods imported by Ireland after Britain and the United States.

In the year to September, Chinese goods accounted for 11.11 percent of the country's total imports, which were valued at 104.07 billion euros, up more than 3 percentage points compared with the 7.84 percent in the corresponding period of last year.

Chemicals and related products were the main drivers of growth. During the January-September period of this year, Chinese chemicals and related products imported by Ireland were valued at 4.85 billion euros, an increase of nearly 700 percent compared with the 607-million-euro imports of such goods in the same period of last year.

Other main commodities imported by Ireland from China in the year to September were machinery and transport equipment with a total value of 3.59 billion euros and miscellaneous manufactured articles valued at 2.15 billion euros.

In the first three quarters of this year, Ireland exported a total of 10.85 billion euros worth of goods to China, up 23.35 percent year-on-year.

China was the fifth largest export market for Irish goods in the year to September, accounting for 6.82 percent of the total value of goods exported by Ireland, which stood at 159.06 billion euros. (1 euro=1.03 U.S. dollar)