Statistics from the Central Statistics Office have disclosed an approximately 8% decrease in manufacturing production over a three-month period, ending January 2024. This downward trend was primarily fuelled by a drop in the so-called contemporary sector’s output, encompassing industries such as chemicals, electronics, pharmaceuticals, and computing. There was an annual contraction in production of 14.4% in this sector, while traditional industries including manufacturing outside the modern sectors, electricity creation and distribution, and mining and quarrying, witnessed a 12% expansion.
Contrary to the reduction in output, the turnover experienced by the manufacturing sector marked an annual increment of 12.1%. The quarterly comparison of production between November 2023 and January 2024 showed a 29% uptick from the previous quarter, with contrasting performances in the globalised contemporary and traditional sectors playing a significant role.
These figures are representative of the Irish industrial economy’s outsourcing and contract manufacturing activities, which are subject to fluctuation month after month, due to the dynamic nature of business scale in Ireland’s economic landscape.
The fresh data indicates a 46.5% decrease in manufacturing industry production during January, succeeding a significant rise from the preceding month.
Colin Cotter, a statistician, advises that these indices should be interpreted from a longer-term perspective due to potential volatility, especially as company results could be influenced by annual end adjustments and data provided at the year’s end could be especially volatile.
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