DUBLIN - The total value of the goods trade between China and Ireland reached $2.09 billion in the first two months of this year, up 16.3 percent year-on-year from a year earlier, according to data released by the Chinese embassy in Ireland on Thursday.

An official with the economic and commercial section of the embassy quoted latest Chinese customs statistics as saying that during the January-February period of this year China imported $1.58 billion of goods from Ireland while exporting to the latter $510 million of goods, up 9.43 percent and 44.47 percent respectively over a year ago.

China's trade deficit with Ireland stood at $1.07 billion in the first two months of this year, down 1.92 percent compared with the same period last year, said the official who declined to be named.

Currently China is the largest trade partner of Ireland in Asia. Last year China's trade with Ireland powered through the $10-billion level for the first time in history.

According to the statistics recently released by the Irish government, China is the world's second largest market both for the Irish dairy products and pork.

Earlier this week, the Irish agriculture minister announced that Ireland has obtained the market access of its beef exports to China, making it one of the first European Union countries to get the market access to China since China banned the beef imports from the EU in 2001 due to a breakout of mad cow disease in Europe.

The lift of the Chinese ban on the Irish beef exports will surely serve a boost to the growing bilateral trade between the two countries, said an official with Bord Bia (Irish Food Board), a government body which is tasked to market the Irish agricultural food products overseas.