DUBLIN, Ire (Xinhua) — The value of Ireland’s goods exports for 2015 totalled about 111 billion euros (US$123.9 billion) and was up 20 per cent or 18.4 billion euros compared with 2014, according to official figures on Monday.

The figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) indicated that the main drivers behind this increase were exports of medical and pharmaceutical products, which accounted for 27 per cent of total exports in 2015, rising by nearly 8 billion euros or 36 per cent to over 30 billion euros.

Exports of food, live animals, beverages and tobacco to the United States totalled 758 million euros in 2015, an increase of 255 million euros or 51 per cent compared with 2014, the CSO said.

The CSO figures also showed that the preliminary trade surplus for 2015 was slightly more than 44 billion euros, which is the largest surplus on record.

Alan McQuaid, chief economist with the Dublin-headquartered Merrion Stockbrokers, said Ireland’s trade performance in 2015 benefitted from gains in competitiveness made against its main partners and by the weakening of the euro, particularly against the sterling and the dollar.

“Against a difficult global backdrop, the strength of the US and UK economies was clearly a factor here. However, with sterling starting to weaken against the euro on ‘Brexit’ fears and a less favourable Bank of England interest rate outlook, that could weigh negatively on Irish exports to the UK in 2016,” he said.

“Despite concerns over exports to the UK, we still think the overall trade surplus this year will be higher than in 2015. We are currently projecting a positive trade balance of 46-48 billion euros,” he added.