THE VALUE of goods exports hit an eight-year monthly high in July, according to new data published by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) yesterday. The seasonally adjusted figures showed strong growth in exports of 8 per cent between June and July, bringing the value of exports to €7.9 billion.

The growth marks the continuation of a trend since the beginning of 2010. From a recessionary low point, registered in December 2009, the value of goods exports was up 28.7 per cent by July.

More detailed numbers for exports by type of good are available only up to June and are not seasonally adjusted. These figures show that most sectors have contributed to the strong overall export performance.

The pharmaceuticals and chemicals sectors, which now account for more than half of all Irish goods exports, registered the highest ever quarterly foreign sales in the second three months of the year.

Exports in each month were just below €4.5 billion.

The “miscellaneous manufactured articles” sector, which is dominated by smaller labour-intensive firms, is also recovering. Export receipts stood at just below €900 million in June, the highest quarterly figure in almost six years.

Food exports in June reached their highest level since just after the global financial crisis began in late 2008, reaching €607 million in that month.

The previously dominant “machinery and transport goods” industry has shown signs of stabilisation, but is a shadow of its former self, with the value of exports now around a quarter of their peak a decade ago.

Much of this relates to structural change, with much computer manufacturing capacity having moved offshore.

The global recession accelerated the pace of that structural change.

Meanwhile, goods imports are also up from their low point in the final months of 2009 and early 2010, although the recovery is far less marked than that of exports.

Most of the increase has been accounted for by imported goods used as inputs in the manufacture of other goods.

Consumer goods, the second largest of the three major types of imports, have contributed little to the overall increase this year.

Capital goods imports, the smallest of the three, grew strongly in the January-June period on their lows in the second half of 2009.

The trade surplus, which measures the difference between the value of exports and imports, was the largest ever recorded in a single month in July, standing at just over €4.2 billion.