The Irish manufacturing sector posted its first expansion in six months during August, driven by a fresh upturn in new orders. Moreover, the downturn in manufacturing production approached the point of stabilisation signaling a notable improvement from July's steep rate of decline. These encouraging trends propelled the most robust hiring amongst firms since February and fostered an improved outlook for future output. Elsewhere, both input costs and output charges continued to fall, albeit at softer rates than those observed in July.