SINGAPORE, Nov. 25 (Xinhua) -- Singapore's manufacturing output increased 1.2 percent in October on a year-on-year basis, said the country's Economic Development Board (EDB) on Friday.
Excluding biomedical manufacturing, output fell 1.4 percent year-on-year, said EDB in the press release. On a seasonally adjusted month-on-month basis, manufacturing output contracted marginally by 0.1 percent in October. Excluding biomedical manufacturing, output fell 1.9 percent.
As for performance by cluster, the biomedical manufacturing cluster's output increased 11.3 percent in October compared to the same period a year ago.
EDB said pharmaceutical segment expanded 12.4 percent due to a different mix of active pharmaceutical ingredients and biological products produced, while the medical technology segment rose 8.2 percent with higher export demand for medical instruments.
Output of electronics cluster increased 24.6 percent in October year-on-year, which the growth was largely supported by the semiconductors segment that grew 41.7 percent, according to EDB.
Output of the precision engineering cluster registered a 2.7 percent increase year-on-year in October. The machinery and systems segment grew 7.3 percent, but this was partially offset by the precision modules & components segment, which contracted 4.6 percent due to lower output of industrial rubber and optical instruments.
On the contrary, the output of chemicals cluster decreased 0.7 percent on a year-on-year in October. This was mainly attributed to the petrochemicals segment which declined 13.9 percent as output was affected by plant maintenance shutdown. The rest of the chemicals segment expanded, with the specialties, other chemicals and petroleum segments recording gains of 0.8 percent, 14 percent and 14.9 percent respectively.
EDB said the general manufacturing industries cluster's output in October decreased 22.2 percent year-on-year with all segment posting declines. The miscellaneous industries, printing as well as food, beverages and tobacco segments all posted a decrease in output of 12 percent, 19.8 percent and 31.5 percent respectively.
The transport engineering cluster's output contracted 26.9 percent year-on-year in October.
EDB said the land transport and aerospace segments rose 18.1 percent and 9.7 percent but it was offset by a decline in the marine and offshore engineering segment, which declined by 46.9 percent, as the segment continued to be plagued by the low oil price environment, which affected rig building activities and demand for oilfield and gasfield equipment.
