Irish businesses continue to rely heavily on overseas suppliers, with imports from China reaching $14.46 billion in 2025 and imports from India totalling $1.38 billion. For finance teams, the scale of these imports highlights a key challenge: foreign exchange costs and currency risk are often hidden in supplier payments when invoices are settled in EUR or USD rather than the supplier’s local currency. Nevertheless, many Irish importers continue to pay overseas suppliers in these currencies, due to convenience and long established purchasing practices.
Let us explore why paying in a supplier’s local currency is often the smarter commercial decision and how Irish importers can reduce unnecessary costs without changing suppliers or renegotiating contracts.
Supplier’s exchange rate is usually more expensive than yours. Many Irish importers assume that invoicing in EUR or USD removes currency risk. In practice, these funds still need to be converted somewhere along the chain, and that conversion can be expensive. On larger invoices, even a small margin can add up quickly, turning hidden FX costs into tens of thousands of euros.
If a Chinese supplier invoices in EUR, those euros are usually converted back into Chinese yuan (CNY). That conversion is rarely done at wholesale market rates. Instead, suppliers often build a margin into the price to protect themselves against currency swings. The invoice may look cleaner, but the FX cost has not disappeared – it is simply buried inside the product price rather than shown as a separate charge.
In effect, the exchange rate becomes hidden inside the product price rather than appearing as a separate bank charge and as a result, buyers often pay more for this “certainty” than they would by managing the currency risk directly.
Suppliers often prefer local currency, even when they do not ask for it.
Most of the time, an overseas supplier will quote in USD simply because they believe that international buyers expect it. But when these suppliers pay staff wages, factory overheads or pay for local raw materials, the costs are paid in local currency.
When you pay in local currency you are removing an operational step for the supplier thereby creating an opportunity for yourself.
By removing the conversion cost for the supplier, you may get more negotiating power on product pricing and payment terms. Currency can therefore become a commercial advantage rather than a payment decision.
How invoice currency can strengthen your negotiating position
Most procurement teams focus on unit price, but payment currency can also have a real impact on cost, supplier relationships, and overall buying power.
For example, consider two wholesale businesses, one in Dublin and one in Cork, both sourcing the same power tools and materials from China for distribution across Ireland.
The Dublin-based company pays in EUR. The Cork-based company works with an FX transfer specialist such as Fexco International Payments to pay in RMB (Chinese renminbi). For the supplier, this creates a simpler and more predictable payment process, with less concern around hedging, conversion fees, or exchange rate movement. That reduction in friction can make the Cork-based company a more attractive customer to deal with.
In commercial terms, this translates into stronger supplier relationships, better pricing discussions, and improved payment terms over time.
Create better cost visibility with local currency pricing
Many Irish accounts payable teams prefer receiving invoices in EUR because accounting appears more straightforward. Local currency invoicing often provides greater cost transparency. Rather than having exchange costs buried within product pricing, businesses can separate product cost, FX cost, and payment cost. This makes it easier for businesses to benchmark suppliers, compare quotations, analyse procurement costs, and negotiate future pricing.
The finance team gets clearer data while procurement gains stronger negotiating intelligence.
Fexco International Payments – Your trusted partner in local currency payments
Paying overseas suppliers in their local currency can reduce hidden costs, improve pricing transparency, and even strengthen supplier relationships.
With access to more than 165 currencies, including Chinese renminbi, Indian rupee and many other specialist and less commonly traded currencies that traditional banks often struggle to support efficiently, Fexco International Payments helps Irish importers pay overseas suppliers the smarter way.
As a Corporate Partner to Hardware Association Ireland, Fexco International Payments offers HAI members:
– ZERO fees on all foreign currency payments.
– Lower FX rates than current provider.
– Free payments health check to discover savings and process improvement.
– Dedicated account managers you can trust.
Find out how you could save margin by speaking with your dedicated HAI account manager, Ian Craddock, for a no obligation consultation.
You can also access a savings calculator at www.fexco.com/hai-savings calculator/
Email: icraddock@fexco.com
Mob: +353 87-9094392
Landline: 066 – 979 9072
Customer Service: 1800 246 800
