DUBLIN, Aug. 15 (Xinhua) -- China has become Ireland's fifth largest trade partner in the world and biggest trade partner in Asia, according to the latest figures released by the Central Statistics Office of Ireland.
In the first half (H1) of this year, Ireland exported a total of 5.73 billion euros (6.78 billion U.S. dollars) worth of goods to China, up nearly 39 percent compared with the same period last year while its total goods imports from China were valued at 2.81 billion euros, up 14.36 percent year-on-year.
Ireland's H1 2020 exports to and imports from China both ranked in fifth place among all its trade partners around the world.
In terms of exports, China ranked after the United States (24.93 billion euros), Belgium (9.13 billion euros), Germany (8.86 billion euros) and the UK (6.81 billion euros).
In terms of imports, China was behind the UK (9.64 billion euros), the United States (6 billion euros), France (3.45 billion euros) and Germany (3.23 billion euros).
China is also Ireland's largest trade partner in Asia. In the first six months of this year, Ireland's exports to China were 3.6 times larger than its exports to Japan (1.58 billion euros), the second largest trade partner of Ireland in Asia, and nearly 33 times larger than its exports to India (174 million euros) thanks to a large growing middle-class population in China.
Ireland's imports from China were more than three times larger than the combined value of the goods it imported from Japan (626 million euros) and India (253 million euros) in the first half of this year.
In H1 2020, Ireland exported a total of 81.96 billion euros worth of goods and its goods imports were valued at 41.12 billion euros. (1 euro = 1.18 U.S. dollars) Enditem
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