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 July to September 2023, production in manufacturing industries decreased by 22.0% when compared with the previous three-month period.
On a monthly basis, production in manufacturing industries rose by 1.3% in September 2023.
On an annual basis, production in manufacturing industries was 22.8% lower in the three months from July to September 2023 when compared with the same period in 2022.
On an annual basis, the Modern sector experienced a 24.1% decline in production in the three months from July to September 2023, compared with the same period in 2022. By contrast, production rose in the Traditional sector by 6.2% over the same period.
From July 2023 to September 2023, turnover in manufacturing industries grew by 0.7% 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 | ||
| September 2022 | 205.0 | 179.0 | 292.4 | 227.9 | |
| August 2023 | 143.7 | 136.3 | 114.2 | 114.4 | |
| September 2023 | 145.6 | 134.7 | 211.3 | 172.1 | |
| Monthly % change | 1.3 | -1.2 | 85.0 | 50.4 | |
| Annual % change | -29.0 | -24.8 | -27.7 | -24.5 | |
| April 2023 - June 2023 | 183.9 | 134.9 | 160.3 | 127.9 | |
| July 2023 - September 2023 | 143.5 | 135.8 | 158.3 | 140.8 | |
| % change | -22.0 | 0.7 | -1.2 | 10.1 | |
Figure 1 shows the seasonally adjusted production indices in Modern and Traditional Sectors.
Statistician's Comment
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (10 November 2023) published the Industrial Production and Turnover release for September 2023 (Provisional) and August 2023 (Final).
Commenting on the release, Eamonn Cleary, Statistician in the Business Statistics Division, said: "Production in manufacturing industries decreased by 22.0% from July 2023 to September 2023 when compared with the previous three-month period (See Headline Table, Table 1, and Table 3b).
Production in manufacturing industries rose by 1.3% in September 2023 compared with August 2023 (See Headline Table, Table 1, and Table 3a).
On an annual basis, production in manufacturing industries was 22.8% lower in the three months from July to September 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 24.1% decrease in industrial production from July to September 2023, compared with the same period in 2022. In contrast, the Traditional sector experienced an increase of 6.2% over the same period (See Table 2 and Table 3b).
Food production grew by 7.9% in the three months from July to September 2023 compared with the same period in 2022 (See Table 3b).
From July 2023 to September 2023, turnover in manufacturing industries was up by 0.7% 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."