PRICES RECEIVED by manufacturers fell in March by the largest monthly amount for nearly five years, official figures released yesterday showed.

Factory-gate prices fell by 1.6 per cent in March, compared to a 0.2 per cent increase in February, boosting the year-on-year price decline to 4.3 per cent compared to a 3 per cent fall in the 12 months to the end of February, according to the Central Statistics Office.

In a sign that exporters are bearing the brunt of the surging euro, export prices fell by 2.2 per cent last month and by 6.5 per cent in the year to the end of March.

Prices for products sold into the Irish market grew by 0.3 per cent during March. By contrast, prices paid by consumers, as measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI), rose by 4.8 per cent in February.

But economists warned that the euro's rise did not necessarily spell long-term relief for consumers.

Ibec economist Fergal O'Brien said that the figures showed exporters were under "considerable" pressure in the face of a surging euro.

NCB economist Brian Devine said that the fall in prices for imported inputs - which could be expected from the higher euro - was taking time to show up in prices paid by consumers.

Moreover, rising energy and food prices had yet to be fully reflected in the CPI and could yet cancel out any benefits to consumers from the euro's ascentappreciation, despite a forecast levelling off in commodity prices in the second half of this year, Mr Devine said.

Mr O'Brien said that forward buying and currency-hedging contracts,, both of which typically ran for six to 12 months, had helped to contain domestic price rises in March, even when taking into account manufacturers' improved purchasing power as a result of the rise in the euro.