The value of the Republic's export trade fell by €624 million in January, according to the latest figures from the Central Statistics Office.

Preliminary figures for January 2016 show that seasonally adjusted goods exports decreased by 6 per cent to €9.6bn compared with December 2015.

Despite the fall, exports of medical and pharmaceutical products increased by €376 million (18 per cent) to €2.4bn.

Exports of office machines and automatic data processing machines rose by €232 million (78 per cent) to €529 million, while exports of food and live animals increased by €52 million (8 per cent) to €705 million over the same period.

The EU accounted for 56 per cent, or just over €5bn of total goods exports in January, of which €1.4bn went to Belgium and €985 million to Great Britain.

The USA was the main non-EU destination accounting for €2.2bn (25 per cent) of total exports.

Seasonally adjusted goods imports decreased by 27 per cent, or €1.7bn, to €4.6bn, leading to an increase of €1.1bn, or 28 per cent, in the seasonally adjusted trade surplus to almost €5bn in January.

Imports of organic chemicals decreased by 45 per cent, or €214 million, while imports of petroleum dropped by 53 per cent, or €210m, to €183 million over the same period.

There was a 21 per cent increase in the number of road vehicles imported as an additional €73 million worth brought the total value to €419 million.

The EU accounted for 62 per cent of the value of goods imports, with a quarter, or €1.2bn, of total imports coming from Great Britain.

The USA with €519 million (11 per cent) and China with €315 million (7 per cent) were the main non-EU sources of imports.