Minister for the Economy, Dr Caoimhe Archibald MLA, has marked Manufacturing NI’s (MNI) Manufacturing Month by launching the Manufacturing and the Northern Ireland Economy report on a visit to MJM Marine in Newry. The ‘Meet the Makers’ event saw the Minister joined by other manufacturing businesses from across Northern Ireland meet global cruise ship interior fit

Minister for the Economy, Dr Caoimhe Archibald MLA, has marked Manufacturing NI’s (MNI) Manufacturing Month by launching the Manufacturing and the Northern Ireland Economy report on a visit to MJM Marine in Newry. The ‘Meet the Makers’ event saw the Minister joined by other manufacturing businesses from across Northern Ireland to meet global cruise ship interior fit-out business MJM Marine and tour its production facilities.

The report found that the manufacturing sector is a large contributor to the Northern Ireland economy, accounting for 13.4% of total economic output. The over £6 billion worth of output makes the sector the second largest in terms of economic contribution after retail and wholesale. The report also found that the sector accounts for 17% of private sector jobs and 21% of turnover, all while accounting for just 6% of the total private business sector population.

The sector accounted for nearly 100,000 jobs in 2023, representing one in ten workforce jobs across Northern Ireland (compared to 7.1% in the UK), with 250,000 jobs in total – a quarter of all jobs in the NI economy – supported by the sector. For every £1 million manufacturing generates as a sector, its value has been found to increase to £1.7 million in total value.

Manufacturing Month, run by MNI, sees a series of events, including the Anchor High Summit, a major leadership summit in Belfast on 29th May. MJM Marine is part of the McConville family-owned Rathbane Group, which includes a number of other local manufacturing businesses: Mivan, Topglass, and NTS.