Northern Ireland’s exports in numbers
agendaNi sums up the official figures for export trade.
The overall recovery in Northern Ireland’s exports has been impressive and is being driven by three key sectors: machinery, transport and agri-food. In each recent year, the main category has been machinery and transport-related exports, followed by food and live animals.
Growth in agri-food exports continued despite the downturn but has slowed considerably in the last two years. The value of manufactured goods has dropped sharply.
As expected, fellow EU member states account for the overall majority of exports due to the single market and geographic proximity.
The EU’s share went down from 60.6 per cent in 2010 to 56.4 per cent in 2012 during an unstable time for the euro zone.
Exports to North America circulate around the £1 billion mark.
Asia-Pacific has rebounded but export growth has slowed down since 2011.
The other world regions are small players with more volatile trends but have seen rapid increases in value over the last three years.
Value by type (£ million)
| Category | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 |
| Machinery and transport | 2,339 | 2,763 | 2,122 | 2,259 | 2,532 | 2,375 |
| Food and live animals | 536 | 654 | 696 | 822 | 956 | 964 |
| Miscellaneous manufactures | 684 | 723 | 622 | 631 | 724 | 654 |
| Chemicals | 394 | 435 | 476 | 547 | 605 | 632 |
| Manufactured goods | 886 | 893 | 611 | 519 | 510 | 482 |
| Beverages and tobacco | 236 | 293 | 329 | 407 | 295 | 265 |
| Crude materials | 213 | 220 | 172 | 232 | 269 | 239 |
| Mineral fuels | 148 | 187 | 86 | 82 | 84 | 83 |
| Animal and vegetable oils | 8 | 8 | 9 | 12 | 17 | 19 |
| Other commodities | 25 | 10 | 19 | 20 | 16 | 12 |
| Total Exports | 5,469 | 6,187 | 5,142 | 5,531 | 6,008 | 5,725 |
Value by destination (£ million)
| Country group | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 |
| European Union | 3,381 | 3,564 | 3,047 | 3,350 | 3,537 | 3,230 |
| Non-EU Europe | 146 | 180 | 114 | 126 | 157 | 196 |
| North America | 1,050 | 1,215 | 1,031 | 949 | 1,030 | 901 |
| Asia and Oceania | 394 | 575 | 476 | 578 | 660 | 668 |
| Middle East and North Africa | 314 | 373 | 276 | 297 | 321 | 381 |
| Sub-Saharan Africa | 123 | 196 | 146 | 168 | 217 | 240 |
| Latin America and Caribbean | 60 | 83 | 51 | 64 | 86 | 109 |
| Total Exports | 5,469 | 6,187 | 5,142 | 5,531 | 6,008 | 5,725 |
Source: HM Revenue and Customs (www.uktradeinfo.com/statistics/rts)
2012 figures are provisional and regional service export figures are unavailable
