The Irish manufacturing economy continued to show slow but steady growth in November, helped by a pick-up in export orders, according to the latest NCB Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI).

The index, which provides a monthly snapshot of the manufacturing economy, stood at 51.3 in November, down from October's 51.4 but still above the level of 50 that represents expansion.

"Conditions in Irish manufacturing in November continued to show growth though the pace was stable relative to October. New orders and export orders accelerated modestly but the pace of output growth slowed marginally," Mr Eunan King, senior economist with NCB Stockbrokers, said.

"Employment grew further, if not at the pace of earlier in the year. The pace of input price inflation decelerated and output prices rose moderately. Overall, it would appear that the manufacturing economy is in a state of steady growth," he said.

A detailed breakdown of the survey showed that manufacturing output improved last month, but only marginally, to accommodate further growth of new orders while the pace of output growth was down from October.

Demand from both domestic and foreign clients led to growth of new orders which accelerated slightly from the trough reached in October.

New export orders also increased in November, after falling back the previous month, as demand from British and European clients contributed to an improvement. The seasonally adjusted export orders index moved back above the neutral 50 mark to 50.5 from 49.2 in October.

Manufacturing employment increased for the tenth successive month as firms took on more workers to deal with the growth of new orders. But the rate of job creation remained modest and was down slightly from a month earlier as the index slipped to 51.5 from 51.8.

Increases in the cost of steel and oil was behind the rise in average costs for manufacturers.