DUBLIN, (Reuters) - Ireland's manufacturing sector growth inched up from an 18-month low in September as output fell, but new orders rose slightly, a survey showed on Thursday.
After growing by over 5 percent in 2014, Ireland's economy is set to be the best performing in Europe again this year and manufacturing has expanded for 28 successive months, according to the Investec Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index.
But while the index level at 53.8 is comfortably above the 50 line denoting growth, it is at its second lowest level since February last year after August's reading of 53.6.
While new orders increased to 55.3 from 55.1, with most of the growth from export, manufacturing output fell slightly.
Investec Ireland chief economist Philip O'Sullivan said there were signs that demand in Ireland and in some key trading partners would lift the index before the end of the year.
"Notwithstanding the troubled signs in a number of emerging markets and uncertainty around central bank actions in Ireland's key non-Eurozone trading partners, we continue to view the sector as having more tailwinds than headwinds ," he said.