Singapore's manufacturing output inches up by 0.1% in August

This is after 3.5% contraction in July.

There has been an upturn in Singapore's manufacturing sector, as output emerges from the red in August.

According to the latest figures by the Singapore Economic Development Board manufacturing output increased 0.1% in August 2016. Excluding biomedical manufacturing, output grew 2.3%.

The improvement is on the back of strong performance from the precision engineering sector, which posted an 11.6% growth.

Electronics also registered robust output in the said month at 10.8%. The semiconductors and other electronic modules & components segments grew 19.7% and 3.1% respectively, but this was partially offset by declines in the rest of the electronic segments. Chemicals also grew at a modest 1.8%.

However, these were offset by underwhelming transport engineering segment, which reflected a disappointing -16.8% growth for the month.

The decline in the transport engineering cluster was due to the weak marine & offshore engineering segment, which recorded a 31.4% decline.

"Rig building activities and demand for oilfield & gasfield equipment remained weak amidst the low oil price environment, resulting in the decline of the marine & offshore engineering segment," the study said.

Biomedical manufacturing has also put pressure on the overall manufacturing sector as it contracted to -8.4%.