Irish manufacturing sector picks up growth in April

DUBLIN, May 1 (Xinhua) -- The growth rate of the Irish manufacturing sector picked up in April after it fell to a 12-month low in March due to the serious disruptions of a massive snowstorm that hit the country at the start of last month, revealed a survey published here on Tuesday.

The Investec's Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index(PMI), an index widely used for measuring the Irish manufacturing activities, showed that the country's manufacturing sector for April grew at a rate of 55.3, an increase of 1.2 points from March's reading.

A reading of 50 or above marks expansion while that below 50 indicates contraction.

Last month due to days of closures of businesses across Ireland following a snowstorm that had never been seen in the country in 36 years, the country's manufacturing PMI for March dropped to a year's low of 54.1.

The April figures released by Investec Ireland, a specialist and investment bank, showed that the Irish manufacturing sector had maintained a growth for 59 months in a row.

The survey said that about 95 percent of the purchasing executives interviewed from hundreds of the companies in the country's private manufacturing sector said they were optimistic about their businesses in the next 12 months' time.

"With global growth at a seven-year high, we think that this optimism is well-placed," said O'Sullivan, chief economist of Investec Ireland. Enditem