The results presented in this release reflect contract manufacturing activity and outsourcing in the Irish industrial economy. The treatment of these concepts follows the definitions set out in the UN 2010 International Recommendations for the Index of Industrial Production, which set out that outsourced production is included as part of an enterprise’s Irish production.
The scale of contract manufacturing and outsourcing in the Irish industrial economy has increased since 2015, meaning that very high levels of short-term, i.e. monthly, volatility may be present in the indices presented in this release.
With this in mind, the CSO recommends that analysts take a longer-term view of the indices. Accordingly, much of the commentary presented by the CSO in the release will refer to rolling quarterly time periods.
From March to May 2023, production in manufacturing industries decreased by 26.9% compared with the previous three-month period.
The ‘Modern’ sector, which includes the Chemical, Pharmaceutical, and Computer & Electronic sectors, recorded a fall of 18.7% in industrial production in the period March to May 2023, compared with the previous three-month period.
The 'Traditional' sector, which is made up of all remaining enterprises, recorded a moderate increase of 3.8% in the period March to May 2023.
On a monthly basis, production in manufacturing industries increased by 5.3% in May 2023.
On an annual basis, production in manufacturing industries was 10.8% lower in the three months from March to May 2023, compared with the same period in 2022.
From March 2023 to May 2023, turnover in manufacturing industries declined by 8.1% compared with the previous three-month period.
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 | |
| May 2022 | 197.3 | 170.1 | 151.5 | 143.4 |
| April 2023 | 157.6 | 148.3 | 182.2 | 150.4 |
| May 2023 | 165.9 | 142.4 | 126.0 | 120.2 |
| Monthly % change | 5.3 | -4.0 | -30.8 | -20.1 |
| Annual % change | -15.9 | -16.3 | -16.8 | -16.2 |
| Dec 2022 - Feb 2023 | 208.1 | 159.8 | 184.0 | 156.0 |
| Mar 2023 - May 2023 | 152.2 | 146.9 | 136.3 | 131.6 |
| % change | -26.9 | -8.1 | -25.9 | -15.6 |
| 1Figures may differ due to rounding. | ||||
Learn about our data and confidentiality safeguards, and the steps we take to produce statistics that can be trusted by all.
Statistician's Comment
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (10 July 2023) published the Industrial Production and Turnover release for May 2023.
Commenting on the release, Eamonn Cleary, Statistician in the Business Statistics Division, said: "Production in manufacturing industries decreased by 26.9% from March 2023 to May 2023, compared with the previous three-month period (See Headline Table, Table 1 and Table 3b).
It should be noted that these exceptionally volatile results are not common to all sectors in the industrial economy. For instance, the 'Modern' sector, which includes the Chemical, Pharmaceutical and Computer & Electronic sectors, recorded a fall of 18.7% in industrial production in the period March to May 2023, compared with the previous three-month period. By contrast, the 'Traditional' sector, which is made up of all remaining enterprises, recorded a moderate increase of 3.8% over the same period (See Table 3b).
Production in manufacturing industries increased by 5.3% in May 2023, compared to the previous month (See Headline Table, Table 1 and Table 3a).
On an annual basis, production in manufacturing industries was 10.8% lower in the three months from March to May 2023, compared with the same period in 2022 (See Table 3b).
Again, this decrease in production was not universal across the industrial sub-indices, as the Traditional sector recorded growth of 6.6% in March to May 2023 compared with the same period in 2022. By contrast, production in the Modern sector was down 10.7% over this period compared with the same period in 2022 (See Table 3b).
From March 2023 to May 2023, turnover in manufacturing industries fell by 8.1% compared with the previous three-month period (See Headline Table and Table 5b).
In general, it should be noted that the results presented in this release reflect contract manufacturing activity in the multinational sectors."