There was a 0.2% drop in the wholesale price index, which tracks factory gate prices of goods produced in Ireland, in March. This compared to a decrease of 0.4% in March the previous year.
As a result, factory gate prices were falling at an annual rate of 1.4% in the month, compared to an annual decrease of 1.6% in February, according to the Central Statistics Office's wholesale price index.
Factory gate prices have fallen now on an annual basis for the past five months.
The CSO said the export index had fallen by 0.5% in the month, while the home sales index increased by 0.1%. This follows the euro's strong performance against the dollar in the month.
In the year there was a decrease in export sales of 1.8% and an increase in home sales of 0.4%.
The biggest sectorial annual drop in March came in office machinery and computers, where prices fell by 11.7%.
All building and construction material prices increased by 7% in the year since March 2006 with asphalt (concrete) prices up 14.2% and all other materials were 10.5% higher.
The price of energy products purchased by the manufacturing industry were up 7.6% in the year since March 2006, with petrol costs up by 5.3%.
However, on a monthly basis energy products prices rose just 0.6%, though petrol increased by 5.6% in March, compared to a 0.4% increase in February and a 1.7% fall in January.
Pharmaceuticals and other chemical products rose 2.2% on the year and meat products rose 4.8% with beverages showing an increase of 1.4%.
