New trade figures show that the value of exports to the US declined by \u20ac9bn year-on-year in February to \u20ac3.9bn.<\/p>\n
The decline was mostly accounted for by exports of medical and pharmaceutical products, which decreased by \u20ac9.6bn to \u20ac6.4bn, a drop of 60pc compared with February 2025. <\/p>\n
This indicates that US importers of Irish pharmaceutical products, such as the key ingredients in weight-loss drugs, have enough inventory stockpiled to last them until the autumn.<\/p>\n
Overall, Irish exports of goods fell by \u20ac97.5m in February compared with January, according to preliminary figures from the Central Statistics Office. Imports grew by \u20ac135m.<\/p>\n
While the comparison with last year is stark, goods exports are on a par with 2024, when there was no distortion caused by the threatened Trump tariffs. The value of exports in February was down just \u20ac42.2m, or 0.3pc, compared with February 2024.<\/p>\n
By contrast with the US, both imports and exports of goods to Britain rose in February. The value of goods exports was up 23pc to \u20ac1.4bn, and imports were up \u20ac77m to \u20ac1.3m compared with February 2025.<\/p>\n
Louise Kelly of Deloitte Ireland said total imports of \u20ac11.3bn for the month, led by machinery and transport equipment at \u20ac4.6bn, point to a steady underlying demand and ongoing economic activity.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe trade data remains shaped by the unwinding of 2025\u2019s front-loaded pharmaceutical exports, with chemicals and related products still dominant, accounting for \u20ac9.2bn, and continuing to drive much of the movement in the headline figure,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile the scale of change appears significant, it reflects a recalibration from an unusually high base rather than a weakening in export performance. Export performance this year is broadly flat, tracking in line with 2024 levels.\u201d<\/p>\n
Robert Purdue of global financial services firm Ebury, said the data points to a more challenging environment for exporters.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe impact of the Iran conflict is beginning to filter through, increasing global energy and fuel prices and adding volatility to trade conditions. This is already feeding into higher input costs for businesses and increasing pressure on margins,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe conflict is also raising the prospect of tighter financial conditions, with inflation fears potentially prompting ECB rate hikes and higher borrowing costs for firms.\u201d<\/p>\n
Janette Maxwell of Grant Thornton Ireland said the figures illustrate Ireland\u2019s heavy reliance on a small number of high-value sectors and key trading partners, particularly the EU and the US.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor policymakers, businesses and households, this concentration highlights both the resilience of export-led growth and the potential vulnerability of the economy to global supply chain disruptions, international tax or trade policy changes, and shifts in demand from major markets,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New trade figures show that the value of exports to the US declined by \u20ac9bn year-on-year in February…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":399788,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[72,113,61,60,5243,4162],"class_list":["post-399787","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-economy","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-john-burns","tag-tariffs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399787","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=399787"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399787\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/399788"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=399787"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=399787"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=399787"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}