DUBLIN (dpa-AFX) - Ireland's manufacturing conditions deteriorated at the fastest pace since April 2013, survey data from IHS Markit showed on Thursday.
The seasonally adjusted AIB factory Purchasing Managers' Index, or PMI, fell to 48.7 in July from 49.8 in June.
This was the second consecutive contraction. Any reading below 50 suggests contraction in the sector.
Total new orders declined in July amid reports of Brexit uncertainty affecting customer demand negatively.
Volumes of new work from abroad decreased at the steepest and the fastest level for almost a decade.
Employment increased in July, but at the slowest pace in the thirty-four months sequence of expansion. Further, decline in new business led to the depletion in backlogs of work for the eleventh month in a row.
Stocks of finished goods rose for the second straight month in July. While, the rate of accumulation was sharpest and the fastest in twenty-one years.
Purchasing activity decreased for the third straight month in July, with the rate of input buying declining at the sharpest pace in three years.
Cost burdens rose in July, by rising raw material prices. The rate of inflation eased to the lowest pace in three years. The selling prices fell for the first time since May 2016.
'Sentiment among Irish manufacturers, while still positive, fell to a three-year low against the backdrop of on-going Brexit uncertainty,' Oliver Mangan, AIB chief economist, said.
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