Singapore’s manufacturing output improved 5.0% year-on-year in May 2017, with production growing at 13.1% if biomedical manufacturing is excluded, according to the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB).
Month-on-month, the republic’s factory production decreased 3.5% on a seasonally adjusted basis, and was down 4.2% without the biomedical manufacturing segment.
On a three-month moving average, output rose 7.7% in May 2017 compared to a year ago, said EDB.
Gainers were led by the electronics cluster, increasing 35.1% in output year-on-year, boosted by the robust growth of 48.3% in the semiconductors segment. Electronics output expanded 36.9% from January to May this year compared to the same period last year.
Output in precision engineering grew 19.1%, as the machinery & systems segment grew 22.9% on higher export demand for semiconductor-related equipment, and the precision modules & components segment increased 13.2%. Year-to-date, output of this cluster rose 19.5%.
The chemicals cluster’s output increased 5.3% year-on-year in May, led by specialties and petrochemicals which grew 9.7% and 7.7%, respectively. In the first five months of this year, output for chemicals was up 2.4% compared to the same period in 2016.
Posting declines in May included the general manufacturing industries cluster, which saw a 9.0% drop as all segments recorded lower output. Year-to-date, output of the whole cluster fell 7.9%.
Output in transport engineering contracted 12.8% year-on-year in May. The land transport and aerospace segments registered output growth of 16.4% and 2.2%, respectively. By contrast, the marine & offshore engineering segment declined 28.0%, as rig-building activities and demand for oilfield & gasfield equipment remained weak. Additionally, the segment recorded lower levels of shipbuilding and repair activities. The cluster decreased 11.8% in the first five months of 2017 compared to the same period last year.
Biomedical manufacturing output shrank 22.2% in May 2017 from the year-ago level. The medical technology segment expanded 19.1% with higher export demand for medical devices, while pharmaceuticals fell 32.6% with lower production of active pharmaceutical ingredients. Cumulatively, the cluster’s production decreased 13.9% from January to May compared to the same period a year ago.
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