Irish manufacturing production fell sharply in October, according to the latest figures from the Central Statistics Office, dropping 4.2 per cent from the previous month and running 7 per cent below the same month last year.
Looking at the latest three-month period, production in the August to October quarter was 3.4 per cent down on the previous three months.
Industrial production data are notoriously volatile, affected by swings in the output of big multinational companies and changes in patterns of contract manufacturing, which involves goods being manufactured overseas on behalf of Irish-based subsidiaries, but still counted in our figures.
Decrease
However, the latest data shows drops in both the modern, FDI-dominated sector and more traditional industries. The modern sector showed a monthly production decrease of 1.9 per cent for October and an annual drop of 7.8 per cent.
There was a monthly drop of 5 per cent in the the volume of production in the traditional sector, where production was down a more modest 2.3 per cent on an annual basis.
In a note on the figures, Davy stockbrokers said the data needed to be taken “with a pinch of salt”, particularly given the distortions caused by contract manufacturing.
The brokers said more emphasis should be given to employment data, which were showing a 6.1 per cent increase, suggesting that Irish-based manufacturing was “still growing at a decent pace”.
