China becomes Ireland's 4th largest source of imported goods in 1st 8 months

China replaced Germany to be the fourth largest source of imported goods for Ireland in the first eight months of this year, according to the data released by Ireland's Central Statistics Office (CSO) on Friday.

In the January-August period, Ireland imported a total of 4.81 billion euros (about 5.58 billion U.S. dollars) worth of goods from China, making the Asian country the fourth largest trade partner of Ireland in terms of imports, showed the CSO figures.

The three biggest sources of imported goods for Ireland in the period were the United States (10.09 billion euros), Britain (9.77 billion euros) and France (6.69 billion euros). Germany, which was the fourth largest source during the same period last year, came fifth with 4.71 billion euros this year.

The CSO figures also showed that China maintained its position as the fifth-largest export market for Ireland in the first eight months of the year. Ireland exported 7.65 billion euros worth of goods to China during the period, ranking after the United States (33.11 billion euros), Germany (12.21 billion euros), Britain (11.41 billion euros) and Belgium (8.36 billion euros).

In the January-August period, Ireland imported a total of 63.21 billion euros worth of goods, up 15.79 percent over a year ago, while its total value of exported goods was 106.95 billion euros, down 1.51 percent year-on-year, according to CSO figures. (1 euro = 1.16 U.S. dollars)