Manufacturing slips from winning run

Irish manufacturing contracted for the first time in over a year last month, and the eurozone’s problems led to the sharpest contraction in new export orders since Aug 2009, a survey showed yesterday.

Confident of exiting its EU/IMF bailout on schedule at the end of 2013, Ireland has seen its economy expand for the last two years, but it contracted in the third quarter of 2012 and was flat in the fourth as weak external demand weighed on exports.

The NCB Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index fell to 48.6 in March from 51.5 in February, below the 50 line that divides growth from contraction for the first time since Feb 2012.