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Irish Industrial Production by Sector 2022

Food, Chemicals, and Pharmaceuticals accounted for 67% of all production in Ireland in 2022

Online ISSN: 2009-8677
CSO statistical publication, , 11am

Key Findings

  • The Food, Chemical, and Pharmaceutical sectors accounted for 67.4% of all production in Ireland in 2022, down from 73.8% in 2021.  

  • These three sectors had a combined Net Selling Value (NSV) of €89 billion, while the remaining sectors reported a value of €43 billion.

  • The total value of products manufactured in Ireland in 2022 was €132 billion.

  • The Pharmaceutical sector reported the highest NSV of €42.3 billion in 2022, an annual decrease of 27.2% compared with 2021.

  • The Top 10 industrial enterprises accounted for 43.8% of all production in Ireland in 2022 with an overall NSV of €57.8 billion.

  • The Top 50 industrial enterprises in Ireland represented 72.5% of the overall NSV with a value of €95.7 billion.

Statistician's Comment

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (20 July 2023) released - Irish Industrial Production by Sector (PRODCOM) 2022.

Commenting on the release, Eamonn Cleary, Statistician in the Business Statistics Division, said: "The value of products produced in Ireland decreased by 0.8% to €132bn in 2022. 

The Food, Chemical, and Pharmaceutical sectors combined accounted for 67.4% of all industrial production activity in Ireland in 2022, compared with 73.8% in 2021.

The value of production of Pharmaceutical products in Ireland decreased by 27.2%, from €58.1bn in 2021 to €42.3bn in 2022.

There were 5,542 industrial enterprises included in the PRODCOM survey in 2022, yet the Top 10 industrial enterprises collectively accounted for almost half (43.8.%) of the value of all products produced in Ireland. The Top 50 industrial enterprises accounted for 72.5%, or €95.7bn of all industrial production in Ireland in 2022."

Headline Table

The headline table consists of the Net Selling Value (NSV) for the three largest Industrial production sectors of Food, Chemicals, and Pharmaceuticals in Ireland in 2022. It also shows the percentage breakdown of NSV for these sectors.

Breakdown of largest sectors by Net Selling Value, 2022
 €'000 %
Food Products (10)23,773,61618.0%
Chemicals & Chemical Products (20)22,988,36917.4%
Basic Pharmaceutical Products & Preparations (21)42,266,59032.0%
Other Sectors43,019,40932.6%
Total NSV132,047,984100.0%

Basic Pharmaceutical Products & Preparations (€42.3bn) accounted for the largest proportion of NSV in 2022 at 32.0%. This was followed by Food Products (€23.8bn) at 18.0% of NSV and Chemicals & Chemical Products with an NSV of €23.0bn (17.4%). 

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NSV %
Food18
Chemicals17.4
Pharmaceuticals32
Other
Sectors
32.6

Annual Changes

Both Chemicals & Chemical Products and Computer, Electronic, Optical & Electrical Equipment accounted for the largest annual increases (+52.5%) in NSV, followed by Paper & Paper Products (+37.2%). Decreases in domestic NSV were recorded in Basic Pharmaceutical Products & Preparations (-27.2%) and Food Products (-5.6%).

X-axis label2021 - 2022
Chemicals & Chemical Products (20)52.5
Computer, Electronic, Optical & Electrical Equipment (26,27)52.5
Paper & Paper Products (17,18)37.2
Wood & Wood Products, Other Non-Metallic Mineral Products, Furniture (16,23,31)28.5
Mining of Metal Ores & Other Mining and Quarrying (07,08)26.5
Rubber & Plastic Products (22)16.6
Other (12,32,33)11.4
Basic Metals & Fabricated Metal Products, Machinery & Equipment (24,25,28)10.5
Beverages (11)3.3
Textiles, Wearing Apparel, Leather & Related Products (13,14,15)1.9
Transport Equipment (29,30)1
Food Products (10)-5.6
Basic Pharmaceutical Products & Preparations (21)-27.2
Table 1 Total Net Selling Value of production by sector, 2020 - 2022

Net Selling Value by Sector

In 2022, the value of Food Products and Beverages combined was €26.0bn and represented a 19.7% share of total NSV. These sectors had an NSV of €27.4bn in 2021 and accounted for 20.6% of total NSV, up from 19.2% in 2020, when NSV was valued at €24.4bn.

202020212022
Mining of Metal Ores & Other Mining and Quarrying (07,08)0.40.40.5
Food Products (10)17.318.918
Beverages (11)1.91.71.7
Textiles, Wearing Apparel, Leather & Related Products (13,14,15)0.30.20.2
Paper & Paper Products (17,18)1.10.71
Chemicals & Chemical Products (20)1611.317.4
Basic Pharmaceutical Products & Preparations (21)41.743.632
Rubber & Plastic Products (22)0.91.21.4
Basic Metals & Fabricated Metal Products, Machinery & Equipment (24,25,28)3.93.94.3
Computer, Electronic, Optical & Electrical Equipment (26,27)7.46.19.4
Wood & Wood Products, Other Non-Metallic Mineral Products, Furniture (16,23,31)2.53.14
Transport Equipment (29,30)0.30.40.4
Other (12,32,33)6.38.59.6
Table 2 Percentage breakdown of production by sector, 2020 - 2022

Food, Chemicals, and Pharmaceuticals

Basic Pharmaceutical Products & Preparations (€42.3bn) accounted for the largest NSV in 2022, followed by Food Products (€23.8bn), and Chemicals & Chemical Products (€23.0bn).

Between 2013 and 2022, production of Basic Pharmaceutical Products & Preparations increased by 45.7%, Food Products increased by 25.8%, and Chemicals & Chemical Products increased by 106.7%.

Food Products (10)Chemicals & Chemical Products (20)Basic Pharmaceutical Products & Preparations (21)
201318.89065311.11954929.010038
201419.85274514.6183736.060141
201520.44792216.88448642.615325
201621.56712115.32995846.49925
201723.35394810.3163644.477397
201823.50157112.92804347.766773
201923.06543321.35759253.859334
202022.00756320.34668953.00471
202125.19690315.07148158.069439
202223.77361622.98836942.26659
Table 3 Total Net Selling Value of production for Food, Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals, 2013 - 2022

Top 10 and Top 50 Enterprises

The Top 10 industrial enterprises accounted for 43.8% of all production in Ireland in 2022. These 10 enterprises had a combined Net Selling Value (NSV) of €57.8bn, while the remaining 5,532 (56.2%) industrial enterprises reported €74.2bn.

The Top 50 industrial enterprises in Ireland represented 72.5% of the overall NSV with a value of €95.7bn, highlighting that the Manufacturing sector in Ireland is heavily reliant on a very small number of enterprises.

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Euro bn
Other74.2
Top 1057.8
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Euro bn
Other36.4
Top 5095.7
Table 4 Net Selling Value for Top 10 and Top 50 enterprises, 2022