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 August to October 2023, production in manufacturing industries decreased by 16.9% when compared with the previous three-month period.
On a monthly basis, production in manufacturing industries fell by 5.2% in October 2023.
On an annual basis, production in manufacturing industries was 30.6% lower in the three months from August to October 2023 when compared with the same period in 2022.
On an annual basis, the Modern sector experienced a 32.2% decline in production in the three months from August to October 2023, compared with the same period in 2022. By contrast, production rose in the Traditional sector by 2.9% over the same period.
From August to October 2023, turnover in manufacturing industries grew by 2.9% compared with the previous three-month period.
One of the tables associated with this release, MIM04, was inadvertently published ahead of its scheduled release time. This table was available on PxStat from 13:52:40 on 7 December 2023. We apologise for the unsynchronised release of data for this publication. This matter is being reviewed as part of our protocols for publishing releases.
08 December 2023.
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 | ||
| October 2022 | 207.0 | 204.1 | 276.2 | 230.6 | |
| September 2023 | 144.6 | 131.6 | 212.2 | 170.8 | |
| October 2023 | 137.1 | 131.6 | 181.1 | 149.6 | |
| Monthly % change | -5.2 | 0.0 | -14.6 | -12.4 | |
| Annual % change | -33.8 | -35.5 | -34.4 | -35.1 | |
| May 2023 - July 2023 | 170.1 | 128.7 | 149.4 | 123.1 | |
| August 2023 - October 2023 | 141.3 | 132.4 | 169.2 | 144.9 | |
| % change | -16.9 | 2.9 | 13.3 | 17.7 | |
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 (08 December 2023) published the Industrial Production and Turnover release for October 2023 (Provisional) and September 2023 (Final).
Commenting on the release, Eamonn Cleary, Statistician in the Business Statistics Division, said: "Production in manufacturing industries decreased by 16.9% from August to October 2023 when compared with the previous three-month period (See Headline Table, Table 1, and Table 3b).
Production in manufacturing industries fell by 5.2% in October 2023 compared with September 2023 (See Headline Table, Table 1, and Table 3a).
On an annual basis, production in manufacturing industries was 30.6% lower in the three months from August to October 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 32.2% decrease in industrial production from August to October 2023, compared with the same period in 2022. In contrast, the Traditional sector experienced an increase of 2.9% over the same period (See Table 2 and Table 3b).
Food production rose by 7.0% in the three months from August to October 2023 compared with the same period in 2022 (See Table 3b).
From August 2023 to October 2023, turnover in manufacturing industries was up by 2.9% 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."