October’s industrial production performance due to low-base levels and strong global demand

According to UOB, this growth was led by the biomedical manufacturing cluster. 

A report by UOB stated that the industrial production performance for October was due to global demand and low-base levels. 

In particular, UOB’s Barnabas Gan report that the advance was faster than Bloomberg and UOB’s estimates at 14.5% and 13.3% y-o-y. 

Biomedical manufacturing-led with an expansion by 76.7%, with the pharmaceutical segment following with an 83.4% y-o-y due to a low production base. This contrasts with the fall in performance from the previous month at 35.9%.

This mix of low base and stronger production momentum also benefitted the transport engineering, chemicals and general manufacturing sectors. Marine & offshore engineering and aerospace, in particular, posted rebounds of 77.6% and 26.9%, respectively.

With these performances, UOB expects a positive outlook on semiconductors and related industries, due to strong capital investment in the semiconductor industry.