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The results presented in this release reflect contract manufacturing activity and outsourcing in the Irish industrial economy. This release is prepared in compliance with the requirement of EU Regulation 1165/98, as amended, and the standards set out in the UN 2010 International Recommendations for the Index of Industrial Production. These standards 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 October to December 2023, production in manufacturing industries increased by 32.3% when compared with the previous three-month period.
Between the overall year 2022 and 2023, production in manufacturing industries fell by 7.5%.
On a monthly basis, production in manufacturing industries rose by 77.7% in December 2023. On an annual basis however, production in manufacturing industries was 4.4% lower in the three months from October to December 2023 when compared with the same period in 2022 (See Comment Below).
On an annual basis, the Modern sector experienced a decline of 11.4% in production in the three months from October to December 2023, compared with the same period in 2022. By contrast, annual production in the Traditional sector grew by 8.3% over the same three-month period.
From October to December 2023, turnover in manufacturing industries was up by 14.6% when 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.
The headline table shows the seasonally adjusted and unadjusted Production and Turnover indices for Manufacturing industries. It also highlights the monthly and annual percentage changes for these indices, as well as percentage changes for the current compared to the previous quarter.
| Manufacturing Industries - Seasonally Adjusted and Unadjusted Indices | (Base Year 2015 = 100) | ||||
| Seasonally Adjusted | Unadjusted | ||||
| Production Index | Turnover Index | Production Index | Turnover Index | ||
| December 2022 | 189.4 | 155.2 | 133.7 | 122.0 | |
| November 2023 | 155.1 | 128.6 | 212.6 | 138.0 | |
| December 2023 | 275.5 | 196.3 | 194.0 | 152.8 | |
| Monthly % change | 77.7% | 52.7% | -8.7% | 10.7% | |
| Annual % change | 45.5% | 26.5% | 45.1% | 25.2% | |
| July 2023 - September 2023 | 143.5 | 132.6 | 158.6 | 140.3 | |
| October 2023 - December 2023 | 189.8 | 151.9 | 196.0 | 146.9 | |
| % change | 32.3% | 14.6% | 23.6% | 4.7% | |
Figure 1 shows the seasonally adjusted production indices in Modern and Traditional Sectors.
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Statistician's Comment
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (09 February 2024) published the Industrial Production and Turnover release for December 2023 (Provisional) and November 2023 (Final).
Commenting on the release, Colin Cotter, Statistician in the Business Statistics Division, said: "Production in manufacturing industries increased by 32.3% from October to December 2023 when compared with the previous three-month period, driven by differences in performance between the highly globalised Modern sector and the Traditional sector (See Headline Table, Table 1, and Table 3b).
With reference to the third bullet point, while monthly production in manufacturing industries grew by 77.7% between November and December 2023, it reflects a change in the distribution of activity within the three months of the quarter. On an annual basis, production in this sector was 4.4% lower in the three months from October to December 2023 when compared with the same period in 2022 (see Table 1 and Table 3b). As per the advisory note above, the CSO recommends that analysts take a longer-term view of the indices because of the variability that can occur within the given months of a quarter. In particular, company results may be subject to year-end adjustments and data provided at year end may be subject to a higher degree of volatility than in other months.
The highly globalised Modern sector, which includes the Chemical, Pharmaceutical and Computer & Electronic sectors, experienced a decline of 11.4% in industrial production from October to December 2023, when compared with the same period in 2022. In contrast, the Traditional sector experienced an increase of 8.3% from October to December 2023, compared with the same period in 2022 (See Table 2 and Table 3b).
From October 2023 to December 2023, turnover in manufacturing industries was up by 14.6% when compared with the previous three-month period (See Headline Table, Table 4, and Table 5b).
In general, it should be noted that the results presented in this release reflect contract manufacturing activity in the multinational sectors."