Robust growth of order books continued to drive further expansion of the manufacturing sector in July, according to NCB’s Purchasing Mandager Index report.
In the document published this morning, purchasing managers reported growth of the Irish manufacturing economy for the sixth consecutive month in July.
The seasonally adjusted NCB Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) recorded 53.6, with positive contributions being registered from each of the five component series used in calculating the index.
New orders rose for the seventh successive month, although the pace of growth eased slightly compared to June.
Firms generally linked increased success tendering for new contracts to a further slight improvement in business conditions.
Foreign demand for Irish manufactured goods also rose for the seventh month running. But the report said the rate of increase of export orders eased slightly from June’s 20-month high.
Meanwhile, the volume of retail trade increased by 0.7 between May 2001 and May 2002 in the euro-zone, Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European said this morning.
Compared to April 2002, sales rose by 0.4 per cent in the euro-zone.