China Ireland's largest trading partner in Asia: statistics

DUBLIN, July 17 (Xinhua) -- China is Ireland's largest trading partner in Asia, and two-way goods trade between the two countries was worth over 7.4 billion euros (8.3 billion U.S. dollars) in the first five months of this year, according to Ireland's Central Statistics Office (CSO) on Monday.

Between January and May, Ireland exported 3.96 billion euros worth of goods to China, while its imports were valued at 3.47 billion euros, the CSO said in its monthly imports and exports report.

China was also Ireland's second largest trading partner outside Europe.

The United States was Ireland's largest trading partner in the world, with two-way trade amounting to more than 30 billion euros in the first five months of this year.

Between January and May, the total value of goods exported by Ireland was 82.5 billion euros, down 5.51 percent compared with the same period last year. Its total imports were worth 57.7 billion euros, up 5.07 percent year-on-year. (1 euro = 1.12 U.S. dollar)