Chart of the Day: Here’s the lone bright spot in Singapore’s cheerless manufacturing

But even this upside will have limited effects.

There’s little hope that Singapore’s manufacturing growth will stop deteriorating any time soon, but one respite remains for the ailing industry.

According to analysts from HSBC, pharmaceutical output may see a rebound in 1Q, thanks to the new capacity installed last year.

However, HSBC notes that its upside may be as limited as it gets, as a part of this may be reclassified as services.

Meanwhile, HSBC also adds while that manufacturing activity tends to pick-up in the first half GDP, probably due to the Lunar New Year celebrations, as well as a boost to trade in the beginning of the year as new orders are placed, this year is set to be different.

“As Singapore’s manufacturing output was quick to adjust last year, some assumed that sequential readings should remain firm. However, we think there may be another downturn in industrial production due to production cutbacks from the marine and offshore engineering industry (M&OE), which makes up 10% of manufacturing (addon refining and petrochemicals and we arrive at almost 20% of manufacturing or 3.6% of GDP),” HSBC adds.