Production for manufacturing industries in October rose by 3.1% from September, the latest figures from the Central Statistics Office show.
But on an annual basis, production for October this year was 17.9% lower than in October last year.
The CSO said the seasonally adjusted volume of industrial production for manufacturing industries for August, September and October 2012 was 9.1% lower than in May, June and July.
The "modern" sector - which comprises a number of high-technology and chemical sectors - showed a monthly increase in production for October of 7%.
There was a decrease of 0.8% in the "traditional" sector, today's figures show.
Merrion economist Alan McQuaid said that manufacturing growth in the short-term is expected to be primarily driven by industries under the ''moder'' umbrella.
Given the unfavourable global economic backdrop, especially in the euro zone and UK, the worry is that overall production will continue to weaken, which does not augur well for the prospects of Irish exports, an integral part of Ireland’s economic recovery hopes,'' the economist said.
He said that based on the figures for the first ten months of the year, it now looks like the Irish manufacturing sector will post an overall decrease in output in 2012, following two years in a row of growth.
''We are forecasting an average volume decline in production of around 2% this year,'' he added.
