S'pore manufacturing output up 3.6% on-year in October
By Jonathan Peeris, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 26 November 2009 1419 hrs

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SINGAPORE : Singapore's manufacturing output rose in October but was lower than expected due to the ongoing weakness in the pharmaceuticals sector.

Data just released by the Economic Development Board (EDB) showed manufacturing output rose 3.6 per cent from a year ago. This is lower than economists' expectation for a 6.3 per cent on-year increase.

If the biomedical sector was excluded, factory output would have increased by 4.3 per cent from the previous year.

Compared to the previous month, output fell by 6.7 percent, but it would have increased by a modest 1.4 percent if biomedical manufacturing was excluded.

Economists said the modest decline in pharma output defies expectations of a bounce in that sector.

However, EDB said output has been bolstered by a strong rise in electronics manufacturing, which expanded 17.7 percent on-year, suggesting the recovery appears to be broadening.

Output in the biomedical manufacturing cluster grew just 0.8 per cent on year mainly due to the medical technology segment.

Pharma output fell by a marginal 0.7 per cent in October after the much larger 15.2 per cent decline in September.

Cumulative output for total manufacturing in the first 10 months of this year contracted by 5.1 per cent compared to the same period in 2008. - CNA /ls