Production falls sharply in multinational-dominated industries

Between December and February, overall manufacturing production was 13.7% lower when compared to the same period a year prior. 

Production in highly globalised multinational sectors has fallen sharply compared to last year, while Irish-owned industrial output increased, new data from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) shows.

Between December last year and the end of February, overall production across manufacturing industries was 13.7% lower when compared to the same period in 2022.

However, the modern sector — which encompasses areas dominated by multinational companies such as chemicals, pharmaceuticals, computers, as well as medical and dental supplies — saw a drop of 21.1% compared to the previous year.

This is in contrast to the traditional industrial sector — which encompasses all other industries not in the modern sector — which grew by 12.9% year-on-year. This sector includes food production, textiles, as well as wood products among others. 

In terms of turnover, which is a measure of the level of industrial product sales, manufacturing across all industries saw a 7.4% decline on an annual basis.

While production and turnover may be down across manufacturing industries on an annual basis, in recent months they have begun to pick up again.

Between December 2023 and February, production in these industries increased by 24.3% compared to the previous three months, with turnover increasing by 14.3% in the same period.

Monthly production in manufacturing industries rose by 2.2% between January and February while turnover was 3.2% higher across the same period.