Irish goods exports show resilience despite sharp US decline

Exports rose by €1.2bn to €18.1bn in June, according to the Central Statistics Office (CSO), while imports increased by 19% to €14.7bn. However, the figures for the first six months of the year show the impact of last year’s surge in exports to the US ahead of the introduction of tariffs.

Goods exports fell by 30.5% to €103.6bn between January and June, a decline of €45.4bn compared with the same period in 2025. Imports, meanwhile, increased by 12.5% to €79.1bn.

Exports to the US fell by €48.9bn, or 65.1%, to €26.2bn in the first half of 2026.

The CSO figures also show a significant shift towards other markets, with exports to Great Britain increasing by €3.1bn, or 42.6%, to €10.3bn.

Carol Lynch, Head of Customs and International Trade Services at BDO, said the figures demonstrated the resilience of Irish exporters despite geopolitical uncertainty and changes to US tariff rules.

“While exports for the first half of the year are down by around 1/3rd on H1 2025 this is primarily related to US exports (down almost 2/3rd) and was to be expected following last year's stockpiling in the early months,” she said.

“We are now seeing some normalization, and it is very positive that exports generally increased in June 2026 compared to June 2025 (+7.1%).”

Lynch also highlighted strong growth in exports to China, which rose from €697m in June 2025 to €1.3bn in June 2026, particularly in chemicals and pharmaceuticals and machinery and transport.

Louise Kelly, Global Trade Strategy & Resilience Leader at Deloitte Ireland, said comparisons with 2025 remained difficult because of the impact of frontloading ahead of US tariffs.

“However, a comparison with June 2024 points to a normalization of our export figures after an extraordinary 2025 when global trade was totally transformed,” she said.

Kelly said the continued growth in exports to Great Britain and other markets demonstrated the benefits of diversification.

“Exports to the US are now lower in June 2026 compared to June 2024 - a better comparison than 2025 - which suggests that Irish exporters have diversified to other markets given US trade policy,” she said.

 Medicinal and pharmaceutical products continued to account for the majority of Irish exports, underlining the sector’s importance to the economy.

The CSO also reported strong growth in exports of office machines and automatic data processing machines, which almost doubled in June, rising 95.7% to €1.1bn.

* This article was originally published on BusinessPlus.ie.