Trading partners

Following on from a look at export levels here, we can also use the latest CSO External Trade release to look at Ireland’s trading partners.
The following table gives the top 12 destinations of Irish exports in millions of euro, along with the remaining exports to other EU countries and other worldwide countries.  The table gives the percentage change from the same period in 2008 in exports to this country and the proportion of total exports that go to that country.

Country	Jan-Nov 2008	Jan-Nov 2009	% Change	% of Exports
USA	15,344.8	16,653.7	+8.5%	21.5%
Belgium	11,350.4	13,859.1	+22.1%	17.9%
Great Britain	13,108.4	11,233.4	-14.3%	14.5%
Germany	5,565.6	4,388.2	-21.2%	5.7%
France	4,557.1	4,228.5	-7.2%	5.5%
Spain	3,284.7	3,207.1	-2.4%	4.1%
Netherlands	2,773.6	2,590.9	-6.6%	3.3%
Italy	2,819.0	2,586.7	-8.2%	3.3%
Switzerland	2,378.1	2,261.7	-4.9%	2.9%
China	2,198.5	2,175.9	-1.0%	2.8%
Japan	1,559.8	1,585.7	+1.7%	2.0%
Northern Ireland	1,451.2	1,157.1	-20.3%	1.5%
Other EU	4,596.0	3,912.3	-14.9%	5.0%
Other countries	8,649.0	7,692.7	-11.1%	9.9%
Total	79,636.2	77,533.0	-2.6%	100.0%

After the US, the biggest destination of Irish exports is Belgium, taking nearly 18% of the total exports.  Belgium is the biggest destination of Irish exports in the EU, overtaking Great Britain and is more than three times greater than either France or Germany.  Exports to Belgium also show strong year-on-year performance with a 22.1% increase on the same period in 2008.
This is likely related to pharmaceutical exports, with manufactured products from Ireland exported to central distribution hubs in Belgium.  Again it is likely that the size and increase of this flow is due to transfer pricing behaviour rather than real changes in output and employment.