Industrial turnover was up 17.8 per cent in 1998, according to figures released yesterday by the Central Statistics Office.

Overall turnover increased by 26.3 per cent for capital goods, 22.1 per cent for intermediate products and 5.6 per cent for consumer goods. Pharmaceuticals showed the largest rise, of 36.8 per cent, followed by 29.6 per cent for electrical engineering and 26 per cent for office and data processing machinery.