DUBLIN, Sept. 15 (Xinhua) -- China is Ireland's second largest non-EU (European Union) trade partner in the world, according to a latest official statistics released here.

Data from Ireland's national statistics bureau CSO showed that in the first seven months of this year, the bilateral goods trade value between China and Ireland totalled 5.7 billion euros (6.6 billion U.S. dollars), ranking China as Ireland's second largest non-EU trade partner only after the United States.

In Asia, China is Ireland's largest trade partner whose trade value with Ireland in the first seven months of this year was almost double than that between Ireland and Japan, revealed the CSO figures

The CSO trade figures include China's Hong Kong and Macao.

In the January-July period of 2018, China exported a total of 2.84 billion euros of goods to Ireland, up 15.7 percent over the same period last year while its imports from the latter were valued at 2.89 billion euros, down 14.7 percent year-on-year, according to the CSO.

Ireland enjoyed a trade surplus of 50 million euros over China in the first seven months of this year, showed the CSO figures.

China accounted for 4.4 percent of Ireland's total external trade of goods in the first seven months of this year, said the CSO, adding that the total value of Ireland's goods imports and exports in the period stood at 129.6 billion euros. (1 euro= 1.162 US dollars)