INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION in May grew strongly by every published measure, according to figures released by the Central Statistics Office yesterday.

The numbers show that manufacturing output in May stood at one of the highest monthly levels in recent years, even if it was slightly down on the first three months of 2010 when the highest quarterly production level on record was registered.

Industrial production in May, when adjusted for seasonal factors, rose by 9.4 per cent on April. A slightly narrower measure of output, which is comparable with other countries, grew only slightly more modestly, at 7.5 per cent (see Chart 2). This was well above rates of expansion in the euro zone, Britain and the US, although Irish output levels are highly volatile.

Both the strength of Irish output relative to other countries since the start of the recession and its volatility are explained by the dominant pharmaceutical sector which now accounts for more than half of total industrial production (See Charts 3 and 4). In May pharmaceutical and chemical output expanded by 8.7 per cent month on month.

The recovery in manufacturing has also been in evidence in most subsectors. Output in the labour-intensive food and beverages industry was up 5.4 per cent on April and is now almost 13 per cent higher than its low point of September 2009.

Taken as a whole, the sectors classified by the CSO as “traditional” – which tend to be more labour intensive than the “modern” sector – expanded output in May by 3.8 per cent compared to April.

The computers and electronics sector expanded by 8.5 per cent on April. The industry in Ireland has suffered very large declines in recent years owing to the global recession and structural changes which have seen companies such as Dell wind down production.