Ireland tops EU industrial production leader board

Ireland topped the EU leader board for industrial production posting growth of 13.2% in the year to November.

The country’s growth rate was far ahead of the European growth rate of 3%, with Ireland posting the one of the biggest gains in productivity of 11.7% in a single month between October and November.

Ireland’s growth rate beat emerging eastern European countries who recorded huge growth figures as well.

Slovakia posted a 12.7% gain, the Czech Republic was 8.8%, while Romania saw industrial production grow by 8.7%.

The strong gains recorded by these countries was offset by falls in productivity in countries still reeling from the European debt crisis including Malta and Greece.

Davy stockbroker Conall MacCoille said that Ireland’s figures were largely down to this country’s hugely volatile modern sector which contains the pharmaceutical sector.

Mr MacCoille warned against seizing the figures as signs of a booming Irish recovery.

“There is no good cause for celebration when looking at these figure.

“We were at the bottom of the league table a few months ago. We would have been down 7.3% back in May so don’t get too excited.”

Mr MacCoille said that buried in the data the good news was that the traditional manufacturing sector, which is posted a much more modest growth rate of 0.4%, was more likely to result in a rise in employment.

Taking an overall look at the eurozone’s member states, the production of goods increased 3%.

Consumer goods recorded a 2.2% rise in production, while non-durable consumer goods gained 1.4%.