Exports rose sharply in July, reaching a record monthly high of more than £4.5 billion. The Republic's trade surplus has grown to almost £10 billion in the period January to July 1999, figures released yesterday by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) show.

On a seasonally adjusted basis the value of exports for the month of July was valued at £4,696 million while imports were valued at £2,984 million, giving a monthly surplus of £1,712 million. This surplus figure surpasses last July's figure by almost £500 million.

The seasonally adjusted estimates provided by the CSO for August show that although exports fell to below £4 billion, the trade surplus will continue at a similar level to July, of approximately £1.7 billion.

Strong export growth was recorded in all major sectors of the economy for the period January to July 1999 and the value of total exports was up 13 per cent on the same period for the previous year.

A breakdown of the figures for the period January to July show that exports of telecommunications equipment increased 51 per cent to £1,453 million, exports of computer equipment rose 18 per cent to £6,519 million and exports of organic chemicals were up 19 per cent to £5,002 million. Exports increased to the US from £3,557 million to £4,368 million and there were significant increases in exports to the Netherlands, France and Malaysia.

In the same period imports rose slightly from £18,180 million to £18,971 million, with the biggest increase recorded in transportation equipment which was up 58 per cent. Imports from the USA rose by 4 per cent to £3,191 million, while imports from Britain fell by 1 per cent to £5,562 million.