Manufacturing output surges 24.2 percent last month (Photo: straitstimes.com)Singapore (VNA) - Singapore's factory output might be a bright spot in theeconomy, thanks to the booming pharmaceutical and electronics sectors,according to the country’s Economic Development Board (EDB).
Manufacturing output surged 24.2 percent last month, compared withthe same month last year - the biggest year-on-year increase since December2011.
Excluding biomedical manufacturing, output grew 8.5 percent.
Biomedical manufacturing production expanded by 89.8 percent yearon year. On a year-to-date basis, the biomedical manufacturing cluster grew26.6 percent compared with the same period a year ago.
The electronics sector also posted robust growth of 30.1 percentlast month. This was led by the semiconductor segment, which grew 37.4 percent,supported by demand from cloud services, data centres and the 5G market, EDBnoted.
The demand for chips remains strong, economists noted.
Chemicals also saw a slight increase in output, by 0.4 percent.The specialities segment grew with higher output in industrial gases andadditives. But the petrochemicals and petroleum segments contracted on the backof plant maintenance shutdowns.
The transport engineering cluster recorded a 35.8 percent plungein output last month.
Growth is expected to remain unevenacross different clusters and segments, as some such as transport engineeringwere hard hit by COVID-19 outbreak./.
VNA
