Ireland's May industrial production down 11.6 pct due to pandemic impact

Xinhua
07 Jul 2020, 02:51 GMT+10

DUBLIN, July 6 (Xinhua) -- Ireland's industrial production in May decreased by 11.6 percent year-on-year due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, showed the figures released by the country's Central Statistics Office (CSO) on Monday.

In May, the modern sector of the Irish manufacturing industries witnessed a year-on-year decrease of 4.7 percent in its total output while the traditional sector saw a 27.1-percent drop over a year ago.

The modern sector refers to industries engaged in the production of products such as chemicals, pharmaceuticals, computers and electronic equipment, whereas the traditional sector refers to all industries excluding the modern sector.

In May, the largest decrease was recorded in the sector of tobacco, leather, coke, refined petroleum products, transport equipment, furniture, repair and installation of machinery and equipment, whose combined production in the month plunged by 48.3 percent year-on-year.

The CSO figures also revealed that the impact of the pandemic on the Irish industrial production eased in May when compared with the previous month.

In May, the combined output of the Irish manufacturing industries witnessed a 10.5-percent drop over April, while the April industrial production in the country fell by 12.2 percent over March.

The pandemic started to hit the Irish economy at the end of March when a nationwide lockdown was imposed by the Irish government to curb the spread of the coronavirus. On May 18, Ireland embarked on a four-phase roadmap of reopening the country's society and business, with each phase lasting for three weeks.

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