The value of the Republic’s export trade fell by €624 million in January, according to the latest figures from the Central Statistics Office; preliminary figures for January 2016 show that seasonally adjusted goods exports decreased by 6 per cent to €9.6bn compared with December 2015.
Despite the fall, exports of medical and pharmaceutical products increased by 18 per centto €2.4bn.
Exports of office machines and automatic data processing machines rose 78 per cent to €529 million, while exports of food and live animals increased by 8 per cent to €705 million over the same period.
The EU accounted for 56 per cent, or just over €5bn of total goods exports in January, of which €1.4bn went to Belgium and €985 million to Great Britain.
The USA was the main non-EU destination accounting for 25 per cent of total exports.