Singapore's manufacturing output up 16.4% in February; 4th straight month of growth

SINGAPORE: Singapore's manufacturing output rose 16.4 per cent year-on-year in February, the fourth consecutive month of growth, boosted by the electronics and biomedical sectors.

February's expansion follows a 9.2 per cent year-on-year increase in January, according to official data released on Friday (Mar 26).

Excluding biomedical manufacturing, output grew by 13.6 per cent in February.

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ELECTRONICS, BIOMEDICAL CLUSTERS LEAD CHARGE

The key electronics cluster led the growth with a 30.3 per cent increase in output on a year-on-year basis.

This was attributed to the semiconductors segment expanding 36.5 per cent, supported by demand from 5G markets and a low production base a year ago, said the Economic Development Board (EDB).

Infocomms and consumer electronics output also gained 5.7 per cent.

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Biomedical manufacturing rose 23.9 per cent growth in February, reversing the previous month's 9.3 per cent decline.

Pharmaceuticals output grew 16.7 per cent with increased production of active pharmaceutical ingredients, while the medical technology segment rose 12.6 per cent with higher export demand for medical devices, said EDB.

Other clusters that expanded include precision engineering, which rose 15 per cent, and chemicals, which increased 2.5 per cent.

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TRANSPORT, GENERAL MANUFACTURING DECLINE

Manufacturing in the transport engineering cluster continued its decline, plummeting 24.2 per cent in February.

The land segment rose 20.3 per cent on the back of higher output of vehicle parts and accessories. But the marine and offshore engineering and aerospace segments fell 23 per cent and 32.1 per cent respectively.

Activity in shipyards and aerospace firms remained low as new orders were still adversely impacted by the weak global oil and gas market and travel restrictions respectively, said EDB.

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In general manufacturing, output declined 5.5 per cent last month due to the Chinese New Year holidays, said EDB. Lower production of milk powder products also contributed to a 6.7 per cent decline in the food, beverage and tobacco segment, while the printing segment fell 24.7 per cent.

On a seasonally adjusted month-to-month basis, manufacturing output rose by 1.6 per cent in February. Excluding biomedical manufacturing, output fell 0.1 per cent.