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 Central Statistics Office (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.
Please note that the CSO also publishes a new Frontier Release focusing on Domestic Industrial Production which is published quarterly to better capture domestic manufacturing activity within Ireland.
From January 2025 to March 2025, production in manufacturing industries increased by 11.3% when compared with the previous three-month period (October 2024 to December 2024).
Over the three months from January 2025 to March 2025, production in manufacturing industries was 33.6% higher when compared with the same period in 2024.
On a monthly basis, production in manufacturing industries rose by 9.9% between February 2025 and March 2025.
On an annual basis, the Modern sector experienced an increase of 39.5% in production in the three months from January 2025 to March 2025, compared with the same period in 2024. In contrast, annual production in the Traditional sector declined by 2.5% over the first three months of 2025.
From January 2025 to March 2025, turnover in manufacturing industries was up by 24.6% when compared with the previous three-month period.
In line with best practice, the CSO has concluded a review of the seasonal adjustment methodology used in this monthly Industrial Production and Turnover series. The review has concluded that, at this time there is not enough evidence to suggest that switching to an Indirect Approach of seasonal adjustment would bring about improved results in the short term. Therefore, the CSO has decided to continue with the Direct Approach to seasonal adjustment. Industrial Production and Turnover Seasonal Adjustment Review 2024
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 with the previous quarter.
| Manufacturing Industries - Seasonally Adjusted and Unadjusted Indices | (Base Year 2021 = 100) | ||||
| Seasonally Adjusted | Unadjusted | ||||
| Production Index | Turnover Index | Production Index | Turnover Index | ||
| March 2024 | 92.1 | 108.7 | 87.8 | 99.4 | |
| February 2025 | 124.9 | 151.3 | 111.8 | 136.1 | |
| March 2025 | 137.4 | 207.3 | 134.9 | 189.8 | |
| Monthly % change | 9.9% | 37.0% | 20.6% | 39.5% | |
| Annual % change | 49.1% | 90.7% | 53.5% | 91.0% | |
| January 2024 - March 2024 | 93.1 | 106.0 | 88.0 | 103.4 | |
| October 2024 - December 2024 | 111.8 | 129.8 | 122.3 | 131.6 | |
| January 2025 - March 2025 | 124.4 | 161.8 | 118.3 | 155.1 | |
| Quarterly % change | 11.3% | 24.6% | -3.3% | 17.8% | |
| Annual % change | 33.6% | 52.6% | 34.4% | 50.0% | |
Figure 1 and Table 2 show the seasonally adjusted indices for the Modern and Traditional sectors.
Tables 1 & 1a relate to the seasonally adjusted and unadjusted indices for Industrial sectors.
Figure 2 and Table 3b show the seasonally adjusted percentage changes in Manufacturing Industries for a rolling three-month provisional average.
Table 3a relates to provisional results for March 2025 and Table 3c relates to final results for February 2025.
| Production | Turnover | |
| Manufacturing Industries (10-33) | 11.3 | 24.6 |
| Food Products (10) | -4.7 | -0.3 |
| Meat & Meat Products (101) | 4.6 | 4.2 |
| Dairy Products (105) | -10.2 | 4.4 |
| Bakery & Farinaceous Products (107) | 2.4 | 1.3 |
| Grain Mill & Starch Products; Prepared Animal Feeds (106,109) | -6.9 | -5.2 |
| Other Food Products (102-104,108) | -6.9 | -4.1 |
| Textiles, Wearing Apparel & Leather Related Products (13-15) | 1.4 | -1.7 |
| Wood & Wood Products, except Furniture (16) | -5.9 | -0.3 |
| Paper & Paper Products; Printing & Reproduction of Recorded Media (17-18) | 3 | 1.8 |
| Rubber & Plastic Products (22) | -2.9 | -0.9 |
| Other Non-Metallic Mineral Products (23) | 0.9 | 1 |
| Basic Metals & Fabricated Metal Products (24-25) | -12.6 | -10.9 |
| Electrical Equipment (27) | 2.5 | 3.1 |
| Transport Equipment (29-30) | 11.3 | 8 |
| Tobacco, Leather, Coke & Refined Petroleum Products, Transport Equipment, Furniture, Repair & Installation of Machinery & Equipment (12,15,19,29-31,33) | 7.9 | 14.1 |
Tables 4 & 4a show the seasonally adjusted and unadjusted Turnover indices for Industrial sectors.
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Statistician's Comment
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (09 May 2025) published the Industrial Production and Turnover Index for March 2025.
Commenting on the release, Colin Cotter, Statistician in the Enterprise Statistics Division, said: "Production in manufacturing industries increased by 11.3% from January 2025 to March 2025 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).
Monthly production in manufacturing industries rose by 9.9% between February 2025 and March 2025. On an annual basis, production in this sector was 33.6% higher in the three months from January 2025 to March 2025 when compared with the same period in 2024 (See Table 1 and Table 3b). 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.
The highly globalised Modern sector, which includes the Chemical, Pharmaceutical, and Computer & Electronic sectors, experienced a growth of 39.5% in industrial production from January 2025 to March 2025, when compared with the same period in 2024. In contrast, the Traditional sector declined by 2.5% over the same three-month period (See Table 2 and Table 3b).
From January 2025 to March 2025, turnover in manufacturing industries was up by 24.6% when compared with the previous three-month period (See Headline Table, Table 4, and Table 3b).
In general, it should be noted that the results presented in this release reflect contract manufacturing activity in the multinational sectors."