Industrial production in manufacturing industries decreased by 8.2% in Quarter 1 (Q1) 2023, compared with Q4 2022.
Compared with the previous month, production in manufacturing industries declined by 38.1% in March 2023.
The 'Modern' sector, which includes the Chemical, Pharmaceutical and Computer & Electronic sectors, recorded a 48% drop in industrial production in March 2023 compared with February 2023. By contrast, the 'Traditional' sector, which is made up from all remaining industrial enterprises, recorded an increase of 6.9% over the same period.
On a quarterly basis, production in the 'Modern' sector fell by 13.7% in Q1 2023 compared with Q4 2022, whereas in the 'Traditional' sector production rose by 2.3% over the same period.
From Q4 2022 to Q1 2023, turnover in manufacturing industries declined by 5.2%.
The CSO had previously committed to review its approach to the seasonal adjustment methodology used in this monthly Industrial Production and Turnover series. This review is still ongoing, and, in the meantime, the CSO will continue to implement the direct method of seasonal adjustment.
| Manufacturing Industries - Seasonally Adjusted and Unadjusted1 | ||||
| (Base Year 2015 = 100) | ||||
| Seasonally Adjusted | Seasonally Unadjusted | |||
| Production Index | Turnover Index | Production Index | Turnover Index | |
| March 2022 | 183.4 | 145.0 | 141.8 | 119.9 |
| February 2023 | 218.5 | 168.2 | 175.2 | 156.6 |
| March 2023 | 135.2 | 157.4 | 103.4 | 128.3 |
| Monthly % change | -38.1 | -6.5 | -41.0 | -18.1 |
| Annual % change | -26.3 | 8.5 | -27.1 | 7.0 |
| Oct 2022 - Dec 2022 | 203.7 | 171.8 | 225.5 | 177.0 |
| Jan 2023 - Mar 2023 | 187.0 | 162.9 | 173.9 | 158.1 |
| % change | -8.2 | -5.2 | -22.9 | -10.7 |
| 1Figures may differ due to rounding. | ||||
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Statistician's Comment
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (09 May 2023) published the Industrial Production and Turnover release for March 2023.
Commenting on the release, Eamonn Cleary, Statistician in the Business Statistics Division, said: "Industrial production in manufacturing industries decreased by 8.2% in January, February, March (Q1) 2023, compared with Q4 2022. (See Headline Table, Table 1 and Table 3b).
On a monthly basis, production in manufacturing industries declined by 38.1% in March 2023 compared with February 2023. (See Headline Table, Table 1 and Table 3a).
However, this large decrease in production was not uniform across all sectors. For instance, the Modern sector, which includes the Chemical, Pharmaceutical, Computer, Electronic and Medical Instrumentation sectors, recorded a 48% drop in industrial production in March 2023 compared with February 2023. By comparison, the Traditional sector, which comprises all remaining industrial enterprises, grew by 6.9% over the same period (See Table 2 and Table 3b).
On a quarterly basis, production in the 'Modern' sector fell by 13.7% in Q1 2023 compared with Q4 2022, whereas the 'Traditional' sector increased production by 2.3% over the same period. (See Table 2 and Table 3b).
From Q4 2022 to Q1 2023, turnover in manufacturing industries dropped by 5.2%. (See Table 5 and Table 5b).
In general, it should be noted that the results presented in this release reflect contract manufacturing activity in the multinational sectors."