Ireland's imports hit new high as imports from China more than double

DUBLIN, July 18 (Xinhua) -- Ireland's goods imports hit a 41-month high in May, reaching over 12 billion euros (about 12.2 billion U.S. dollars), according to data released by the country's Central Statistics Office (CSO) on Monday.

In May, Ireland imported 12.8 billion euros worth of goods, up 46 percent year-on-year.

Imports from China were valued at 1.57 billion euros, up 151 percent from the same period of last year.

China was the third largest source of imports for Ireland in the first five months of this year with 5.36 billion euros worth of imported goods, next only to the 11.21 billion euros of imports from the United Kingdom and 7.9 billion euros from the United States.

Ireland's total imports of goods in the five months period added up to 53.6 billion euros, up 36 percent year-on-year, while its total exports were valued at 88.12 billion euros, up 33 percent year-on-year.

In May, Ireland exported 1.59 billion euros worth of goods to China, up 47 percent over a year earlier.

In the January-May period, Ireland sold 5.77 billion euros worth of goods to China, making China the fifth largest market for its exports, according to the CSO figures. (1 euro=1.014 U.S. dollars)