Minister Costello welcomes positive export figures

The Minister for Trade and Development, Joe Costello T.D., has welcomed Ireland’s latest merchandise trade figures, released yesterday by the CSO. 

Speaking on St. Patrick’s Day on his return from Copenhagen, where his programme included an IDA Investors’ Conference, he commented that goods exports are continuing on a positive trend, having increased by 4% year- on- year between 2010 and 2011, and by a whopping 10% in January 2012 compared with January 2011.

The Minister particularly welcomed the increase in exports to emerging markets, including some to which he will lead trade missions later in 2012. The Minister said:

“I look forward to continuing to work on implementing our Trade Strategy, and to working with the other members of the Export Trade Council on key measures to promote exports. Given 85% of everything produced in Ireland is exported, continued strong export performance is vital to achieving our economic recovery.”