China ranks Ireland's 4th largest source of imported goods: statistics

DUBLIN, Dec. 15 (Xinhua) -- China became Ireland's fourth largest source of imported goods in the first ten months of this year, Ireland's Central Statistics Office (CSO) said here on Wednesday.

Between January and October, Ireland imported 6.45 billion euros (7.27 billion U.S. dollars) worth of goods from China, nearly 22 percent more than in the same period of 2020.

In terms of the value of the goods imported, China ranked fourth behind the United Kingdom (14.2 billion euros), the United States (13.6 billion euros) and France (8.15 billion euros).

In the first ten months of this year, Ireland exported 9.61 billion euros worth of goods to China, up 4.35 percent year-on-year, making China the fifth largest market for Irish goods exports after the United States (43.26 billion euros), Germany (14.92 billion euros), the UK (14.58 billion euros) and Belgium (11.07 billion euros).

In the same period, Ireland exported 136.24 billion euros worth of goods, slightly over one percent more year-on-year, and its total imports were valued at 81.37 billion euros, up 18.41 percent year-on-year.

Last year, Ireland imported 6.54 billion euros worth of goods from China, while its exports to that country were valued at 10.32 billion euros, ranking China fifth among all its trade partners in terms of both imports and exports, the CSO said. (1 euro = 1.13 U.S. dollar)