Singapore factory output falls 9.2% in March

Source: The Straits Times
Author: Claire Huang

SINGAPORE - Singapore's factory output fell 9.2 per cent year on year in March, reversing from the previous two months' gains and performing worse than analysts expected.

Excluding the more volatile biomedical industry, production dropped 5.9 per cent, data released by the Economic Development Board on April 26 showed.

On a seasonally adjusted month-on-month basis, factory output fell 16 per cent in March. Excluding biomedical manufacturing, output dropped 8.7 per cent.

The March figures are much worse than Investing.com's forecast of a 1.5 per cent year-on-year drop, and a month-on-month decline of 8.8 per cent.

Among the six clusters, the biomedical industry's output shrank the most year on year with a 34.3 per cent plunge, led by the halving of the pharmaceuticals segment.

EDB said pharmaceutical output sank 54.1 per cent, due to a different mix of active ingredients being produced compared to a year ago.

The chemicals industry grew by 4.2 per cent while the precision engineering segment expanded 3.2 per cent from a year ago, but these expansions were not enough to offset the declines in the other four clusters.

Electronics output fell 11.3 per cent despite an 18.8 per cent growth in infocomms and consumer electronics. The decline was largely due to the semiconductor industry where production shrank 14.4 per cent.

Transport engineering output fell 9.7 per cent from the same month a year ago with 2023 being a strong base year for comparison.

Within transport engineering, output of the aerospace and marine and offshore engineering segments fell 7.8 per cent and 15.3 per cent, respectively. The latter recorded a lower level of activity in the shipyards on the back of lower project milestones met, and weaker production in oil and gas field equipment.

General manufacturing output dipped 3.2 per cent from the year-ago period. This was led by the printing and miscellaneous industries segments as they shrank 3.9 per cent and 13.8 per cent, respectively. The miscellaneous industry posted lower production of construction-related materials.