Production in manufacturing industries was up 7.2 per cent from October to December when compared with the same period the year before, data from the Central Statistics Office shows.
However, it was down by 1.7 per cent when compared with the previous quarter.
Turnover in manufacturing industries was down 9.6 per cent when compared with the previous quarter, while an annual decline of 10 per cent was recorded when compared with the same three-month period in 2024.
The highly globalised “modern sector”, which includes the chemical, pharmaceutical, and computer and electronic sectors, experienced annual growth of 9.5 per cent in industrial production.
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Meanwhile, production in the traditional sector, which includes all other industries, decreased by 3.6 per cent over the same period.
Turnover in manufacturing industries was down by 9.6 per cent when compared with the previous three-month period, while an annual decline of 10 per cent was recorded.
Ireland’s pharma sector, which is the country’s biggest export industry, has endured a turbulent year after US president Donald Trump imposed tariffs on 15 per cent on products coming from the EU.
Ireland is the most exposed state in the EU to tariffs on the pharma sector. US pharma giants Pfizer, Eli Lilly, MSD and others have large manufacturing plants in the Republic, producing drugs to ship back across the Atlantic.
The industry accounts for a huge portion of the State’s exports and trade with the US and contributes a sizeable amount to the corporation tax take.
Trump views tariffs as a way to pressure US multinational companies to relocate manufacturing capacity and jobs to America, often singling out Ireland as a country that “stole” pharmaceutical firms from the US.
A situation where tariffs were introduced on medicines and pharma products would be “the worst of all worlds”, a body representing the European pharmaceutical industry said last year.
Nathalie Moll, head of the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations, said “urgent discussions” were needed to avoid tariffs on the sector. “Tariffs increase costs, disrupt supply chains and prevent patients from getting life-saving treatments,” she said.
Trump also announced new tariffs on a number of other industries and products.
Imported heavy trucks will be subject to a 25 per cent duty, kitchen cabinets and bathroom vanities will be hit with a 50 per cent charge, and upholstered furniture imports are to be taxed at 30 per cent, he said.
