Ireland's trade surplus narrow, hit by lower pharma exports

The overall trade surplus in the Republic of Ireland narrowed by 12.4% to 37.25 billion euros ($50.98 billion) in 2013, according to the Central Statistics Office, heavily impacted by the pharmaceutical sector.

It is the lowest annual trade surplus since 2008, said the CSO. This was caused by a 5.2% fall in the value of Irish exports, down 4.8 billion to 86.9 billion euros, coupled with a 1% increase in imports, to over 49.6 billion euros.

The CSO attributed the trade surplus narrowing to a sharp drop in the value of pharmaceutical and medical exports. The value of medical and pharmaceutical exports fell by over 2.9 billion euros to 21.62 billion euros, by far the biggest change on the 2012 figures.