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SINGAPORE: Singapore’s manufacturing output increased 17.9 percent year-on-year in November, driven by biomedical and electronics manufacturing.
Excluding biomedical manufacturing, production rose 14 percent, the Economic Development Board (EDB) said on Thursday (December 24).
November’s rally follows a revised 0.8 percent year-on-year decline in October, which was affected by a drop in transportation engineering.
On a seasonally adjusted monthly basis, manufacturing output increased 7.2 percent in November. If biomedical manufacturing is excluded, production grew 6 percent.
Biomedical manufacturing production grew 40.6 percent in November compared to the same period last year, largely due to a 50.8 percent expansion in the pharmaceuticals segment.
The medical technology segment also grew 22.7 percent with higher export demand for medical devices.
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In the electronics group, production increased 34.9 percent in November compared to the previous year, and all segments recorded growth in production except for infocommunications and consumer electronics.
In particular, the semiconductor segment grew 40.9 percent, supported by demand from 5G markets and a low production base from a year ago.
The chemicals production sector grew 10.1% year-on-year, driven by a 25.1% increase in the petrochemicals segment, which expanded from a low base last year due to plant maintenance shutdowns.
The specialty segment increased 8.9% with higher production of industrial gases and mineral oil additives.
The other chemical and oil segments contracted 2 percent and 31.7 percent respectively, as demand remained weak amid the COVID-19 situation.
Production also grew for precision engineering with an increase of 7.3% compared to the previous year. The machinery and systems segment grew 9.4% with higher production of semiconductor equipment. The precision components and modules segment increased 2.8% due to higher production of precision metal components and optical instruments.
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Among the groups that contracted, production in transportation engineering was the one that decreased the most by 29.5% year-on-year in November.
The land segment grew 31.8% with higher production of motor vehicle parts and accessories, but this was offset by declines in the aerospace and offshore and marine engineering segments.
Activity levels at aerospace companies and shipyards remained low as new orders were negatively affected by travel restrictions and the weak global oil and gas market, EDB said.
Production also declined in the manufacturing group as a whole, with a 13.3 percent year-on-year drop and all segments recorded declines in production.
The food, beverage and tobacco segment fell 14 percent due to lower production of beverages and powdered milk.
Miscellaneous industries and printing segments declined 10.7 percent and 19.6 percent respectively as the former continued to see weak demand for construction-related products.
