THE IRISH EXPORTERS’ Association (IEA) has lowered its projection for growth this year following weak third quarter figures.

Total export sales grew by just 1.7 per cent in the third quarter of this year compared to the same period last year, according to a review released by the IEA today.

There was also a drop of just under 3 per cent in exports of manufactured/merchandise goods.

Responding to what it said was an “unexpected turn of events” the IEA revised its growth projections to 5 per cent for this year, two per cent down on the forecast it made at the beginning of 2011.

Overall from January to September of this year, exports increased by 5.4 per cent compared with the same period last year.

In manufacturing exports are up by 3.5 per cent, in services they are up 7.9 per cent. Whilst in the export of agri-food products, there has been growth of 15 per cent for the year so far.

Responding to the findings, IEA chief executive John Whelan said in a statement: “The poor showing of exports in the third quarter… does not detract from the positive growth posted so far this year.”

He said that Irish exports needed to be more focused on emerging markets, citing country’s reliance on the EU and the US for 80 per cent of export sales.

“[This] dramatically illustrates the need for a sustained and targeted approach to developing sales in the emerging markets, especially in the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China) countries,” he added.

Read: Exports up 10 per cent in one month >