Manufacturing output in Ireland dropped 11% in December

Irish manufacturing output fell by 11 per cent in December compared to November and was down 1.8 per cent when compared with the same month a year earlier, according to new figures.

The seasonally adjusted volume of industrial production for manufacturing industries for the three months to December was 3 per cent higher than the preceding period, the CSO data shows.

The “modern” sector, comprising high-tech and pharma companies, showed a 10.7 per cent month-on-month decline in production and was 0.5 per cent lower versus December 2015.

Traditional sector

There was a monthly decrease of 1.4 per cent in the “traditional” sector for December and an annual increase of 3 per cent.

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Turnover decreased by 13.9 per cent for companies in the manufacturing sector from November to December. On an annual basis, turnover fell 9.4 per cent when compared with December 2015.

“The outlook for production this year remains very uncertain given the whole Brexit issue. Output could again post a small single-digit rise, but the risk is that production will be lower than 2016,” said Merrion chief economist Alan McQuaid.