Manufacturing growth expected in 2014

The manufacturing sector is expected to show modest growth this year, with January already having shown a return to monthly production increases.

Latest preliminary industrial production data, published yesterday by the CSO, showed a 0.4% month-by-month increase in output in January; following on from a 2.4% decline in December.

On a year-on-year basis, however, production was down by 1.4%; but this was a marked slowdown on the near 8% annualised drop seen in December.