DUBLIN, March 16 (Xinhua) -- Ireland's trade surplus in the first month of this year reached 5.511 billion euros (6.77 billion U.S. dollars), hitting a monthly record high in the country's history, said Central Statistics Office (CSO) on Friday.
In January, the seasonally adjusted value of Ireland's goods exports totalled 12.331 billion euros while that of its goods imports stood at 6.82 billion euros, said CSO, the Irish national statistics bureau.
The unadjusted value of the country's goods exports for January 2018 was 11.925 billion euros, up 20 percent or 2.021 billion euros more compared with January 2017, said CSO.
The organization added that the unadjusted value of Ireland's goods imports was 6.431 billion euros, an increase of 12 percent or 707 million euros compared with the same month of last year.
Based on unadjusted figures, the United States was the largest export destination accounting for 3.864 billion euros or 32 percent of the total exports in January 2018, followed by Belgium (1.406 billion euros) and Britain (1.332 billion euros), said CSO.
The UK was the largest import source accounting for 1.528 billion euros or nearly 24 percent of the total imports in the first month of this year, followed by the United States (1.416 billion euros) and Germany (685 million euros), it said.
In January, Ireland exported 5.449 billion euros of goods to the European Union (EU), accounting for almost 46 percent of its total exports while its imports from the EU totalled 3.635 billion euros, making up nearly 57 percent of the total imports. (1 euro=1.229 U.S. dollars)
