Irish manufacturing growth accelerates in August with modest upturn

Irish manufacturing improved in August, data published by S&P Global showed Monday.

The headline AIB Ireland manufacturing purchasing managers’ index improved to 50.4 in August from 50.1 in July. Climbing further from the 50-points mark separating growth from contraction, it indicates growth accelerated.

S&P Global highlighted that despite improvement, August’s reading was below the long-run series average of 52.0 due to weaker order books being the main drag on performance. S&P says data collection began in May 1998.

David McNamara, AIB chief economist said: ‘Output rose in August for a second consecutive month, but the rate of growth remained below the historic average. Client demand remained weak, reflected in a further fall in new orders, with the rate of contraction accelerating compared to July. Firms linked this drop in orders to the current economic climate. This was also seen in new export orders falling for the seventh successive month, with rising demand from the UK the only reported source of growth in August.’

S&P Global said: ‘August data pointed to another marginal increase in production volumes across the manufacturing sector and the rate of expansion edged up to its strongest since February. Rising output was supported by a fourth consecutive monthly upturn in staff numbers. Moreover, the pace of job creation accelerated to its fastest since August 2023. Goods producers mostly noted forthcoming project starts and efforts to expand business capacity, alongside the need to reduce backlogs.’

The AIB Ireland manufacturing PMI is compiled by S&P Global from responses to questionnaires sent to purchasing managers in a panel of around 250 manufacturers. The panel is stratified by detailed sector and company workforce size, based on contributions to GDP. The data were collected between August 12 and 22.

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