Manufacturing production falls 0.1%

MANUFACTURING production fell by 0.1% in May on the previous three months seasonally adjusted, figures issued yesterday by the Central Statistics Office disclose.

This continues the pattern reported for the three months to end April 2004 when production fell 1.7% compared with the preceding three months.

On an annual basis output for all industries in May 2004 was 1.4% higher than May 2003. The so called "modern sector" made up of a number of high technology and chemical sectors showed a modest annual increase of 0.5% for May.