Manufacturing sector expands for the 15th straight month

Singapore's PMI eased slightly by 0.1 points to 50.8 in September.

According to the Singapore Institute of Purchasing and Materials Management, the manufacturing sector recorded an expansion for the 15th straight month, recording a purchasing manager's index (PMI) of 50.8.

This is 0.1 points lower than the 50.9 recorded in the previous month.

"The marginal dip was due to a slower expansion in new orders, new exports, factory output, inventory, imports, employment and order backlog indices," said OCBC Bank Head of Research and Strategy Selena Ling.

" The decline in Singapore’s manufacturing PMI has been in line with how most of Asia had performed. Note that Taiwan’s PMI fell to 54.7 in Sept, from 58.5 in the previous month. Other economies such as Thailand (Sept: 48.9), Malaysia (Sept: 48.1), and Vietnam (Sept: 40.2) remained in contractionary territories. These suggest that manufacturing momentum in Asia has largely decelerated further as the region’s export growth slowed," added UOB Economist Barnabas Gan.

Meanwhile, electronics PMI increased by 0.2 points from the previous month, to 51.2 in September, marking the 14th month of expansion.

The PMI measures the strength of the manufacturing sector, by polling over 200 purchasing managers. Production output, new orders, supplier deliveries, inventory, and employment are all factored into the computation.

A PMI of over 50 indicates an expansion compared to the month previous, while a PMI under 50 indicates a contraction.