May 22 (Reuters) - Polish industrial output dropped for a third month in a row in April as corporate sector wages continued to rise at a double-digit rate in a tight labour market, throwing up mixed signals in central Europe's biggest economy.

Industrial output dropped by 6.4% year-on-year, twice as fast as expected. On the month, production fell 14.8%.

On the cost side, producer price growth slowed to 6.8% year-on-year and was at a single-digit rate for the first time since mid-2021.

Softening demand has pushed output lower around central Europe although economists say a recovery is in sight in Poland, as markets look for clues as to how soon interest rates might start falling after sharp hiking cycles in 2021-22.

"Business climate surveys indicate a slightly better assessment of the portfolio of orders, especially export orders. This will help to achieve production growth again after Q2," Polish Economic Institute (PIE) analysts wrote in a note.

With labour markets tight, Polish wage growth has stayed strong since the beginning of last year.

Corporate sector wages rose by an annual 12.1% in April, in line with a Reuters poll forecast. Corporate employment rose 0.4% on the year, beating analysts' expectations of a 0.2% rise.

Analysts said the mixed data was unlikely to sway Poland's central bank in its policy outlook.

Central bank Governor Adam Glapinski said this month that the bank stood ready to act if needed to continue fighting inflation pressures, but he hoped it would be possible to start discussing rate cuts late this year.

Santander Bank Polska economist Grzegorz Ogonek called the data on Monday mixed.

"On the one hand in our forecasts we assume that there will be some rebound and that it was the first quarter that marked the bottom," he said.

"On the other, we're not sure that the situation in (Poland's) industry or European industry in general, won't drag ... economies further down."

(Reporting by Karol Badohal in Warsaw; editing by Jason Hovet and John Stonestreet)