Reference metadata describe statistical concepts and methodologies used for the collection and generation of data. They provide information on data quality and, since they are strongly content-oriented, assist users in interpreting the data. Reference metadata, unlike structural metadata, can be decoupled from the data.
Prodcom provides statistics on the production of manufactured goods. The term comes from the French "PRODuction COMmunautaire" (Community Production) for mining, quarrying and manufacturing: sections B and C of the Statistical Classification of Economy Activity in the European Union (NACE 2).
It is an annual survey of the value and volume of products manufactured by industrial enterprises in Ireland and sold during the reference year.
Prodcom uses the product codes specified on the Prodcom List, which contains about 4,000 different types of manufactured products.
Products are identified by an 8-digit code:
The first four digits are the classification of the producing enterprise given by the Statistical Classification of Economic Activities in the European Community (NACE) and the first six correspond to the CPA;
The remaining digits specify the product in more detail.
Most product codes correspond to one or more Combined Nomenclature (CN) codes, but some (mostly industrial services) do not.
Statistical Classification of Economic Activities in the European Community (NACE) : NACE Rev. 1 was used until 2001, NACE Rev. 1.1 since 2002, and NACE Rev. 2.0 is used from 2008 to 2025 (For the year 2025, Prodcom is dual reported in NACE Rev 2.1).
The PRODCOM list is divided into “Classes” corresponding to the classes of NACE Rev 2. Within the individual classes, the headings of the list are set out in ascending order of their PRODCOM codes. PRODCOM uses an eight-digit product code of the form XX.XX.XX.YY.
The first four digits of the code correspond to the 4-digit classes of NACE Rev. 2;
The first six digits are the Community Classification of Products by Activity (CPA) codes. The CPA provides a detailed listing of the characteristic products for each 4-digit NACE Rev. 2 economic activity;
The last two digits provide a more detailed breakdown of the CPA classes into PRODCOM product headings.
There is a direct link between the PRODCOM classification and the EU foreign trade Combined Nomenclature (CN). Each PRODCOM 8-digit heading covers one or more CN 8-digit headings.
3.3. Coverage - sector
The survey covers all industrial enterprises with three or more full-time equivalent persons engaged which are wholly or primarily engaged in industrial production and industrial services in the Mining, Quarrying and Manufacturing industries (Nace Rev. 2 Sectors 05 - 33), as well as some data for NACE Rev. 2 Sector E3832 (or NACE Rev. 2.1 Sector E3821).
The survey does not cover the following sectors and products:
Products of coal and lignite mining,
Coke and refined petroleum products.
3.4. Statistical concepts and definitions
The products: industrial goods and services included on the Eurostat Product List.
Sold production value: the value of production (on own account) is expressed in thousand, excl.VAT and excise duties.
Sold production volume: the volume of production (on own account) is expressed in a unit specified for each product.
Sub-contracted production value: the value of sub-contracted production is expressed in thousand, excl.VAT and excise duties. This is the value of sub-contracted production, where the sub-contractor is an Irish enterprise which reports the value which has been invoiced to the principal.
Sub-contracted production volume: the volume of sub-contracted production is expressed in a unit specified for each product. This is the volume of sub-contracted production, for which the sub-contractor, an Irish enterprise, has produced on behalf of and invoiced to the principal.
Actual production quantities: the volume of production is expressed in a unit specified for each product.
The volume unit: the measurement unit, such as kilogram, sq meter etc., used to indicate the volume of produced goods.
3.5. Statistical unit
The observation unit is Enterprise / Legal Unit. The reporting unit is Enterprise.
3.6. Statistical population
The survey covers all industrial enterprises with three or more full-time equivalent persons engaged which are wholly or primarily engaged in industrial production and industrial services in the Mining, Quarrying and Manufacturing industries (Nace Rev. 2 Sectors 05 - 33), as well as some data for NACE Rev. 2 Sector E3832. (or NACE Rev. 2.1 Sector E3821).
The survey does not cover the following sectors and products:
Products of coal and lignite mining,
Coke and refined petroleum products.
3.7. Reference area
The data refers to industrial products, manufactured on the territory of Ireland.
3.8. Coverage - Time
Data available from 2000 to 2020 under European Community (EC) Council Regulation on the Establishment of a Community Survey of Industrial Production (No. 3924/91). This did not include data on sub-contracted production.
From 2021, following adoption of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/1197, data was collected and disseminated to distinguish between production under own account and sub-contracted production.
3.9. Base period
There is no base period.
For volume: Physical measurement unit required by the Nomenclature of Industrial Production, specific for each product.
For value: Thousand euro, excluding VAT and excise duties.
2025.
6.1. Institutional Mandate - legal acts and other agreements
This survey is carried out in compliance with following regulations:
EU Implementing regulation 2026/665 of 4 March 2026 amending Implementing Regulation (EU) 2022/2552 as regards the technical specifications of data requirements for the detailed topic industrial production statistics establishing the industrial products classification breakdown. (PRODCOM List 2025)
National Regulation:
S.I. No.573 of 2025 Statistics (Industrial Commodities Production Survey) Order 2025
6.2. Institutional Mandate - data sharing
Not applicable at Member States level.
7.1. Confidentiality - policy
At European level: Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics (recital 24 and Article 20(4)) of 11 March 2009 (OJ L 87, p. 164), stipulates the need to establish common principles and guidelines ensuring the confidentiality of data used for the production of European statistics and the access to those confidential data with due account for technical developments and the requirements of users in a democratic society.
At national level: Confidentiality checking takes place on all data cells sent to Eurostat and published on the national statbank facility.
7.2. Confidentiality - data treatment
We apply active confidentiality checking and use established Eurostat (n, k) criteria.
Confidentialty criteria is applied based on dominance and prevalence under the following:
The target is confidential because there are too few enterprises;
The target is confidential because one enterprise is dominant;
The target is confidential because two enterprises are dominant, or because it fails the p-percent test;
The target is confidential to protect other data in national publications (secondary confidentiality).
8.1. Release calendar
Final data sent to Eurostat ahead of the regulatory deadline of 30th June each year. National publication normally follows within 1-2 months later.
8.2. Release calendar access
Annual release calendar for the national publication can be accessed via the following website.
8.3. Release policy - user access
All users are treated equitably. Data are always dissminated to all the users at the same time.
Annually.
10.1. Dissemination format - News release
Data is published nationally via an e-release format with supporting press release and tweet.
National publication for 2023 is available via the following website.
10.2. Dissemination format - Publications
Prodcom usually has an electronic release in July each year which is published on the CSO website at following link: PRODCOM - Irish Industrial Production by Sector - CSO - Central Statistics Office. However, the release of the 2024 results was postponed pending a methodological review. This review was completed in December 2025. The 2024 results will be published alongside the 2025 results in September 2026.
Historical prodcom data tables can be found at the following link: Prodcom Statistics.
The quality of statistical information and its production process is ensured by the provisions of the European Statistics Code of Practice. The documentation on quality management is available in this website.
The main quality assurance activity for Prodcom is the data validation.
A number of validation procedures, from data collection to data dissemination are performed:
Automatic checks - performed in the process of data entry;
Logical checks - data control of correctness of the suspicious size of the values or incompleteness of the data. Errors of this type are corrected wherever possible through direct contacts with the enterprises;
Micro checks - at the level of observational unit;
Macro checks - at the level of product (8-digit PRODCOM code) and NACE class (4-digit code).
Micro and macro plausibility checks are performed as historical and actual data are compared; comparison with other sources (External trade especially) is also made.
11.2. Quality management - assessment
The national response rate for the 2025 Prodcom survey was 42%. This was in line with previous years. However, this was a less than satisfactory result as additional resources were dedicated to the collection for this year (a phone follow up campaign was implemented). In general terms, the relatively low response rate remains the main challenge.
However, all the largest enterprises are surveyed by a dedicated Large Cases Unit (LCU). LCU had a 100% response rate for these enterprises. This brought the overall coverage, in terms of Net Selling Value, to 75% of the total Net Selling Value reported.
12.1. Relevance - User Needs
Main users of annual survey of industrial products are:
1. National data users:
Government authorities, organs of public administration (central and local),
Trade associations, research institutions, students,
Enterprises
2. Foreign data users:
International institutions (UN, EUROSTAT).
3. Internal data users within the Central Statistics Office:
National Accounts for the supply and use tables,
The industrial producer price index uses product data for its weighting system
Other internal users for specific areas covered by Prodcom (e.g. Environmental Accounts, Materials Flow Analysis).
12.2. Relevance - User Satisfaction
No measurement of user satisfaction is collected for Prodcom statistics.
12.3. Completeness
Data on all variables and Production Types required are collected and submitted to Eurostat.
13.1. Accuracy - overall
Inevitably, the accuracy of the Prodcom 2025 results is impacted by the 42% enterprise coverage rate (or 75% total Net Selling Value coverage rate). Response errors, in particular in relation to the units of production, also impact the sold prodcution and actual production volumes reported. It is not possible to quantify the overall accuracy. Users are advised to view the Prodcom results as estimates only.
13.2. Sampling error
Prodcom is a census of all industrial enterprises with at least three full time equivalent employees. Sampling error is not relevant in this context.
13.3. Non-sampling error
The main types of non-sampling errors can be classified as follows:
Coverage errors,
Measurement errors (wrong industrial product codes, wrong volume unit measurement unit, wrong quantities manufactured or sold),
Processing errors,
Non-response errors.
The most significant of these are the non-response errors. Non-response errors fall into two categories: Item non-response (i.e. product under-reporting) and enterprise non-response. The latter is most difficult to address.
Item non-response is at least partially addressed by the use of Trade data (specifically export data). The Trade data consists of trade values and volumes classified by CN code and is available at the enterprise level. Using CN - Prodcom concordances, the Trade data is matched to the Prodcom data at enterprise level and the products are directly compared. If an enterprise has exported a product that it has not reported in Prodcom, that product is imputed. Some 10% of the total Prodcom Net Selling Value comprises imputed under-reported products.
Full non-response can also be addressed by the use of Trade data in the case of exporting enterprises. A further 10% of the total Prodcom Net Selling Value comprises non-respondent production imputed from the Trade data.
Finally, a residual element of non-responding enterprises are not found in the Trade data. These enterprises are imputed using a nearest neighbour method employing the pool of responding, non-exporting enterprises. A further 5% of the total Prodcom Net Selling Value comprises non-respondent production imputed from this nearest neighbour process.
Significant measurement errors also occur from respondents not reporting the correct unit (e.g. most frequently reporting production in tonnes instead of kilograms). This impacts the accuarcy of the sold prodcution and actual production volumes.
14.1. Timeliness
Data is submitted to Eurostat before the regulatory deadline of the 30th June each year.
14.2. Punctuality
Data sent to Eurostat by 30th June each year.
15.1. Comparability - geographical
Not available at the national level. Statistics are comparable across the EU.
15.2. Comparability - over time
Reference year 2021 resulted in a break in series in that data was now disseminated based on a distinction between production under own account and sub-contracted production.
From a NACE classification perspective, the introduction of NACE Rev. 2 in 2008 resulted in a break in series.
Trade data was employed for the first time in 2025 to address partial and full non-response. This is a very significant development which helped improve the accuracy of the results. However, this effectively introduced another break in the series as the 2025 Prodcom results are not compiled from the same methodology used in previous years.
15.3. Coherence - cross domain
Control checking is applied and comparisons made at micro and macro level with Trade export statistics.
15.4. Coherence - internal
PRODCOM statistics are internally coherent by their nature.
The survey is based ot the Nomenclature of Industrial Production (identical to the Prodcom list) which defines the products to be included in the survey.
Data on these products are obtained by surveying producer enterprises and after that aggregated at the product level (8-digit code). Microdata aggregation can also be made at the 6-digit level of product subcategories of the Classification of Products by Economic Activities (CPA).
Estimates of Cost and Burden can be obtained from the Response Burden Barometer: Please check this website.
Survey specific information is available via CSO's dissemination database PxStat: Please check this website.
17.1. Data revision - policy
Where a significant data change occurs, there would be a revised dataset sent to Eurostat for Prodcom and similar changes/corrections made to the national dataset published on the Px Stat databank facility on our website.
17.2. Data revision - practice
Where a significant data change occurs, there would be a revised dataset sent to Eurostat for PRODCOM and similar changes/corrections made to the national dataset on the PxStat databank facility on our website. We follow the Office policy regarding any need for data revisions.
Information on value and volume (under own account, and sub-contracting) for each Prodcom product code, provided by industrial enterprises with three or more persons engaged which are wholly or primarily engaged in industrial production and industrial services in the Mining, Quarrying and Manufacturing industries (Nace Rev. 2 Sectors 05 - 33), as well as some data for NACE Rev. 2 Sector E3832 (and NACE Rev. 2.1 Sector E3821).
18.2. Frequency of data collection
Annual.
18.3. Data collection
Prodcom data are collected from enterprises via an electronic questionnaire. A dedicated phone campaign also targets key enterprises.
18.4. Data validation
Unit prices are computed for all products at the enterprise level. If an enterprise unit price for a specific product falls outside an acceptable threshold, the volumes of sold production and actual production are recomputed based on a median unit price for that product.
18.5. Data compilation
Data editing is performed and an estimation of the unit non-response/item non-response is made. Since 2025, the use of Trade data is an intrinsic part of the compilation process, to address underreporting of products, enterprise non-response and in the compuation of unit prices which are used to validate the sold production and actual production volumes.
18.6. Adjustment
Not applicable.
In 2025 Trade data was used directly for the first time in the compilation of the Prodcom results. This is an important development that has both increased the accuracy of the Prodcom results and has made them much more coherent with published trade statistics. As such, this has been a very important and welcome development. Trade data will certainly be continued to be used in future Prodcom compilations. However, the use of the trade data is still in its nascent stages. Further work will be done in future years to fully exploit this valuable data resource and to fine-tune its use in Prodcom statistics.
Prodcom provides statistics on the production of manufactured goods. The term comes from the French "PRODuction COMmunautaire" (Community Production) for mining, quarrying and manufacturing: sections B and C of the Statistical Classification of Economy Activity in the European Union (NACE 2).
It is an annual survey of the value and volume of products manufactured by industrial enterprises in Ireland and sold during the reference year.
Prodcom uses the product codes specified on the Prodcom List, which contains about 4,000 different types of manufactured products.
Products are identified by an 8-digit code:
The first four digits are the classification of the producing enterprise given by the Statistical Classification of Economic Activities in the European Community (NACE) and the first six correspond to the CPA;
The remaining digits specify the product in more detail.
Most product codes correspond to one or more Combined Nomenclature (CN) codes, but some (mostly industrial services) do not.
The products: industrial goods and services included on the Eurostat Product List.
Sold production value: the value of production (on own account) is expressed in thousand, excl.VAT and excise duties.
Sold production volume: the volume of production (on own account) is expressed in a unit specified for each product.
Sub-contracted production value: the value of sub-contracted production is expressed in thousand, excl.VAT and excise duties. This is the value of sub-contracted production, where the sub-contractor is an Irish enterprise which reports the value which has been invoiced to the principal.
Sub-contracted production volume: the volume of sub-contracted production is expressed in a unit specified for each product. This is the volume of sub-contracted production, for which the sub-contractor, an Irish enterprise, has produced on behalf of and invoiced to the principal.
Actual production quantities: the volume of production is expressed in a unit specified for each product.
The volume unit: the measurement unit, such as kilogram, sq meter etc., used to indicate the volume of produced goods.
The observation unit is Enterprise / Legal Unit. The reporting unit is Enterprise.
The survey covers all industrial enterprises with three or more full-time equivalent persons engaged which are wholly or primarily engaged in industrial production and industrial services in the Mining, Quarrying and Manufacturing industries (Nace Rev. 2 Sectors 05 - 33), as well as some data for NACE Rev. 2 Sector E3832. (or NACE Rev. 2.1 Sector E3821).
The survey does not cover the following sectors and products:
Products of coal and lignite mining,
Coke and refined petroleum products.
The data refers to industrial products, manufactured on the territory of Ireland.
2025.
Inevitably, the accuracy of the Prodcom 2025 results is impacted by the 42% enterprise coverage rate (or 75% total Net Selling Value coverage rate). Response errors, in particular in relation to the units of production, also impact the sold prodcution and actual production volumes reported. It is not possible to quantify the overall accuracy. Users are advised to view the Prodcom results as estimates only.
For volume: Physical measurement unit required by the Nomenclature of Industrial Production, specific for each product.
For value: Thousand euro, excluding VAT and excise duties.
Data editing is performed and an estimation of the unit non-response/item non-response is made. Since 2025, the use of Trade data is an intrinsic part of the compilation process, to address underreporting of products, enterprise non-response and in the compuation of unit prices which are used to validate the sold production and actual production volumes.
Information on value and volume (under own account, and sub-contracting) for each Prodcom product code, provided by industrial enterprises with three or more persons engaged which are wholly or primarily engaged in industrial production and industrial services in the Mining, Quarrying and Manufacturing industries (Nace Rev. 2 Sectors 05 - 33), as well as some data for NACE Rev. 2 Sector E3832 (and NACE Rev. 2.1 Sector E3821).
Annually.
Data is submitted to Eurostat before the regulatory deadline of the 30th June each year.
Not available at the national level. Statistics are comparable across the EU.
Reference year 2021 resulted in a break in series in that data was now disseminated based on a distinction between production under own account and sub-contracted production.
From a NACE classification perspective, the introduction of NACE Rev. 2 in 2008 resulted in a break in series.
Trade data was employed for the first time in 2025 to address partial and full non-response. This is a very significant development which helped improve the accuracy of the results. However, this effectively introduced another break in the series as the 2025 Prodcom results are not compiled from the same methodology used in previous years.
