Industrial output rose between January and March, the Central Statistics Office (CSO) said today.
Seasonally adjusted industrial production levels rose by 12.9% during the three-month period, compared to the preceding three month period.
On an annual basis production for all industries in March 2007 was 9.8% higher than in March 2006.
Output from the so-called 'modern' sectors of chemicals, pharmaceuticals and computer products, showed an annual increase in production for March 2007 of 12.1%.
In other so-called 'traditional sectors' of the economy an annual increase of 4.4% was recorded.
Seasonally adjusted industrial turnover, which measures sales rather than output by manufacturing industries, was 11.7% higher in the three months to March 2007 compared with the preceding three-month period.
On an annual basis, turnover in March was 8.5% higher than in 2006.
The main reason for the strong performance of industrial output in the year to date was an annual rise of 21% in the chemicals sector on the latest three-month basis - though this can be volatile due to the small number of large companies in this sector.
On the indigenous side, the beverages sector has been quite strong, up almost 26% on an annual basis in the three months to March.
Economist with Bloxham Stockbrokers, Alan McQuaid, said demand for Irish goods should remain reasonably healthy over the next year, though a lot will depend on inflation and the exchange-rate, and also a build-up in industrial stocks last year may impact output in the coming months.
'But, at this stage and based on the positive start to 2007, we are looking for both manufacturing and total industrial production to post average volume growth of 6-8% in 2007', he said.
