There was a further marked improvement in Irish manufacturing conditions in March, with the rate of improvement picking up slightly from the previous month.
The NCB Purchasing Managers Index rose to 54.4 in March, up from 53.7 in February, remaining above the critical 50 no-change mark for the seventh month in a row.
The index is designed to provide a single figure measure of the economic health of the manufacturing industry here.
'The recovery in Irish manufacturing continues to gather pace, benefiting from greater buoyancy in both domestic and external demand,' commented Dermot O'Brien, Chief Economist at NCB Stockbrokers.
'The return to growth in employment is also becoming more established,' he added.
NCB said the latest improvement in business conditions was again underpinned by buoyant growth of incoming new orders, which rose for the seventh month running in March. The rate of increase in new business also continued to gather pace, as manufacturers benefited from stronger global economic conditions.
Robust growth of incoming new orders led to production volumes being revised upwards for the seven month in a row in March. The rate of expansion of output eased slightly compared to a month earlier, but still remained marked.
Increased workloads stimulated a marginal expansion of the manufacturing sector workforce for the second month in March, NCB said. But despite the higher levels of employment, backlogs of work in hand were found to have been unchanged in March.
