Manufacturing prices in Ireland dropped by 0.6 per cent in March but remain 1.4 per cent up for the year, figures released today by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) show.
Today’s figures compare with an annual increase of 2.3 per cent in February. In March, the index for home sales increased by 1.1 per cent compared with the previous month while the index for export sales decreased by 1.3 per cent over the same period.
Contributing to the fall was a 3.3 per cent fall in the cost of basic chemicals coupled with a 0.9 per cent drop in prices for "other food products".
Beverages contributed one of the sharpest monthly rises, up by 3.4 per cent.
The highest factors behind the annual increase of 1.4 per cent were the rise in manufacturing prices for other food products, up 5.1 per cent and meat products, which rose by 6.2 per cent.
According to the CSO figures, the biggest annual fallers were pharmaceuticals and other chemical products, which fell 2.7 per cent compared with last year and radio and television and communication equipment, which dropped 7.6 per cent.
Prices for building and construction materials increased by 0.2 per cent in March and showed an increase of 3.9 per cent compared with last year.