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 September to November 2023, production in manufacturing industries decreased by 12.4% when compared with the previous three-month period.
On a monthly basis, production in manufacturing industries grew by 2.6% in November 2023.
On an annual basis, production in manufacturing industries was 31.3% lower in the three months from September to November 2023 when compared with the same period in 2022.
On an annual basis, the Modern sector experienced a 33.2% decline in production in the three months from September to November 2023, compared with the same period in 2022. By contrast, production in the Traditional sector grew by 3.1% over the same period.
From September to November 2023, turnover in manufacturing industries grew by 0.6% 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 | ||
| November 2022 | 204.5 | 157.2 | 266.6 | 178.5 | |
| October 2023 | 136.9 | 140.4 | 181.2 | 150.0 | |
| November 2023 | 140.5 | 144.6 | 184.3 | 164.3 | |
| Monthly % change | 2.6 | 2.9 | 1.7 | 9.6 | |
| Annual % change | -31.3 | -8.0 | -30.8 | -7.9 | |
| June 2023 - August 2023 | 160.5 | 139.2 | 145.3 | 129.7 | |
| September 2023 - November 2023 | 140.6 | 140.1 | 192.6 | 161.7 | |
| % change | -12.4 | 0.6 | 32.6 | 24.7 | |
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 January 2023) published the Industrial Production and Turnover release for November 2023 (Provisional) and October 2023 (Final).
Commenting on the release, Colin Cotter, Statistician in the Business Statistics Division, said: "Production in manufacturing industries decreased by 12.4% from September to November 2023 when compared with the previous three-month period (See Headline Table, Table 1, and Table 3b) driven by differences in performance between the highly globalised Modern sector and the traditional manufacturing sector.
Production in manufacturing industries grew by 2.6% in November 2023 compared with October 2023 (See Headline Table, Table 1, and Table 3a).
On an annual basis, production in manufacturing industries was 31.3% lower in the three months from September to November 2023 when compared with the same period in 2022 (See Table 1 and Table 3b).
However, this large decline was not uniform across the various industrial sub-sectors. For instance, the highly globalised Modern sector, which includes the Chemical, Pharmaceutical and Computer & Electronic sectors, experienced a 33.2% decrease in industrial production from September to November 2023, compared with the same period in 2022. It should be noted when drawing comparisons between 2023 and 2022, that 2022 was a very strong year for industrial production in the multinational-dominated modern sector. In contrast, the Traditional sector experienced an increase of 3.1% from September to November 2023, compared with the same period in 2022 (See Table 2 and Table 3b).
Food production rose by 7.8% in the three months from September to November 2023 compared with the same period in 2022 (See Table 3b).
From September 2023 to November 2023, turnover in manufacturing industries was up by 0.6% 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."