New figures from the Central Statistics Office show that production levels in the manufacturing sector fell by 1% in August compared to July.
On an annual basis, production declined by 6.7% in August compared to the same time last year. Manufacturing accounts for about a quarter of the country's economic output.
The CSO said the modern sector - which includes high technology and chemical industries - showed a monthly increase of 0.4% while production in the traditional sector rose by 0.9%.
Today's figures also show that the seasonally adjusted volume of industrial production for the three months from June to August rose by 2.5% from the previous three month period.
Commenting on the figures, Merrion economist Alan McQuaid said that the general weakness in the UK economy as well as the depreciation of the pound had impacted negatively on the traditional manufacturing sector in the early part of the year, though this now appears to be turning around.
The economist said that manufacturing growth in the short-term is expected to be primarily driven by industries under the modern umbrella.
"The patents issue related to the pharmaceuticals sector is likely to remain a negative factor, though against that, demand from the euro zone and the UK for Irish goods should start to pick up now as these economies recover," he added.
But he said that on the basis of the figures for the first eight months of the year, it looks as though manufacturing output for 2013 as a whole will post a low single digit decline for the second year in a row.
