SINGAPORE, Jan. 26 (Xinhua) -- Singapore's manufacturing output increased 21.3 percent in December on a year-on-year basis, said the country's Economic Development Board (EDB) on Thursday.
Excluding biomedical manufacturing, output grew 16.1 percent year-on-year, said EDB in the press release. On a seasonally adjusted month-on-month basis, manufacturing output increased 6.4 percent in December compared with the previous month. Excluding biomedical manufacturing, output rose 3.6 percent.
As for performance by cluster, the electronics cluster posted the highest increase of 49.4 percent in December year-on-year. EDB said the growth in the cluster was largely supported by the semiconductors segment. For the whole of 2016, output of the electronics cluster expanded 15.9 percent compared to a year ago.
Output of the biomedical manufacturing cluster grew 44.9 percent year-on-year in December. The pharmaceuticals segment expanded 53.8 percent with higher production of active pharmaceutical ingredients and biological products. For the whole year of 2016, the biomedical manufacturing cluster grew 13.6 percent compared to a year ago.
EDB said the precision engineering cluster increased 6.1 percent in December compared to the same month last year. The machinery and systems segment grew 8.5 percent with higher export demand for semiconductor related equipment, while the precision modules and components segment recorded higher output of industrial rubber, dies, moulds, tools, jigs and fixtures and metal precision components. The output of precision engineering cluster increased 0.8 percent in 2016 compared to a year ago.
The chemicals cluster rose 4.1 percent year-on-year in December. EDB said the growth in the cluster was supported by higher output in the petrochemicals, petroleum and specialties segments. While other chemicals segment registered output decline of 12.6 percent. Output of the chemicals cluster fell 0.9 percent in 2016 compared to 2015.
According to EDB's press release, output of the general manufacturing industries cluster grew 2.0 percent year-on-year in December, mainly attributed to the 22.8 percent growth in the food, beverages and tobacco segment. However, growth in the cluster was moderated by declines in the miscellaneous industries and printing segments. In 2016, the general manufacturing cluster declined 2.5 percent from a year ago.
On the contrary, the transport engineering cluster's output contracted 10.5 percent year-on-year in December. The aerospace and land transport segments grew 15.0 percent and 11.5 percent respectively but this was offset by decline in the marine and offshore engineering segment. EDB said the transport engineering cluster's output in 2016 was 17.8 percent lower than that in 2015.
