How dependent is the United Kingdom on Ireland?

A product has a dominant supplier when a single country sells more than 50% of what is bought of it; we flag it separately above 75%.

• Ireland sells 6.8% of what the world exports of fresh beef; next come United States (13.2%), Australia (10.9%) and Canada (8.3%). The rest of the world exported 29.7 times what the United Kingdom buys from Ireland.
• Ireland sells 35.9% of what the world exports of fragrance mixtures; next come France (8.2%), United States (8.2%) and Germany (7.6%). The rest of the world exported 23.7 times what the United Kingdom buys from Ireland.
• Ireland sells 12.9% of what the world exports of live horses, donkeys and mules; next come China (22.1%), Germany (10%) and United States (6.8%). The rest of the world exported 8.5 times what the United Kingdom buys from Ireland.
• Ireland sells 1.9% of what the world exports of frozen beef; next come Brazil (27.5%), Australia (15.5%) and United States (12.6%). The rest of the world exported 106.8 times what the United Kingdom buys from Ireland.
• Ireland sells 14.4% of what the world exports of butter and milk fats; next come New Zealand (22.4%), Netherlands (14.6%) and Germany (8.4%). The rest of the world exported 45 times what the United Kingdom buys from Ireland.
• Ireland sells 2% of what the world exports of fresh milk and cream; next come Germany (13.8%), Netherlands (12.1%) and France (8%). The rest of the world exported 65.5 times what the United Kingdom buys from Ireland.
• Ireland sells 1.9% of what the world exports of live pigs; next come Denmark (33.9%), Netherlands (16.5%) and Canada (11.5%). The rest of the world exported 55.2 times what the United Kingdom buys from Ireland.
• Ireland sells 2.4% of what the world exports of live cattle; next come Canada (14.8%), France (14.2%) and Mexico (11%). The rest of the world exported 164.7 times what the United Kingdom buys from Ireland.
• Ireland sells 0.48% of what the world exports of logs; next come New Zealand (16.8%), United States (13.9%) and Germany (7.1%). The rest of the world exported 209.8 times what the United Kingdom buys from Ireland.
• Ireland sells 15.1% of what the world exports of lard stearin, lard oil and tallow oil; next come Poland (8.7%), France (6.9%) and Germany (1.9%). The rest of the world exported 1.8 times what the United Kingdom buys from Ireland.

Exports from the rest of the world already have buyers; the figure shows scale, not availability.

The United Kingdom is Ireland’s 3rd-largest customer, with 7.9% of its exports.

• Trade between the United Kingdom and Ireland
• Who does the United Kingdom rely on?
• Who does Ireland rely on?
• Dependence of the United Kingdom on China
• Dependence of the United Kingdom on Norway
• Dependence of the United Kingdom on the United States
• Dependence of the United Kingdom on Spain
• Dependence of the United Kingdom on Switzerland
• Dependence of the United Kingdom on the Netherlands
• Dependence of the United Kingdom on Belgium
• Dependence of the United Kingdom on Italy
• Dependence of the United Kingdom on Germany
• Trade profile of the United Kingdom
• Trade profile of Ireland
• All countries

Sources and licenses

• CEPII BACI · Licence Ouverte Etalab 2.0
• Natural Earth · Public domain

Methodology

The data come from CEPII BACI (Etalab 2.0 licence), which reconciles what the exporting and the importing country report, in current USD, FOB. Data up to 2024.

Dependence is the share of a country’s imports (or exports) that each partner accounts for. It does not measure whether a product has a substitute or how much it would cost to change supplier.

The concentration index (HHI) adds up the square of each partner’s share, in percent: it runs from 0 to 10,000. Its equivalent is 10,000 ÷ HHI, the number of partners of the same size that would give that value.

Products are HS4 headings of the 1992 nomenclature (some combine different goods), with a floor of $1 million per product and country.

The EU is the 27 current members in every year; the United Kingdom is outside the EU throughout the series.

Re-exports: countries that act as redistribution hubs carry their notice and the figures are not corrected.