Irish factory production drops despite stabilisation in prices

New export orders remained particularly weak as a result of sluggish global demand.

Ireland’s manufacturing sector contracted in March, the first downturn in three months and signalling a loss of growth momentum across the sector.

Spare capacity was evident within the sector, with the sharpest fall in the backlog of work in more than a decade according to the AIB Ireland Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI), which surveys 250 manufacturers across the country.