Singapore's manufacturing output up 1.2% in October

Electronics sector surged 24.6%.

Singapore’s manufacturing output increased 1.2% in October 2016, data from Economic Development Board of Singapore show.

Excluding biomedical manufacturing, output fell 1.4%.

On a seasonally adjusted month-on-month basis, manufacturing output contracted 0.1% in October 2016. Excluding biomedical manufacturing, output fell 1.9%.

The electronics cluster’s output increased 24.6% in October 2016 on a year-on-year basis. Growth in the cluster was largely supported by the semiconductors segment, which recorded an output growth of 41.7%. On a year-to-date basis, output of the electronics cluster expanded 11.7% compared to the same period a year ago.

Output of the biomedical manufacturing cluster increased 11.3% in October 2016, compared to the same month last year.  The pharmaceuticals segment expanded 12.4% mainly due to a different mix of active pharmaceutical ingredients and biological products produced. Output of the medical technology segment also grew 8.2% with higher export demand for medical instruments. 

Cumulatively, the biomedical manufacturing cluster’s output rose 8.7% in the first ten months of the year compared to the same period in 2015.