SINGAPORE – Singapore’s total manufacturing output rose for a third straight month in September though the key electronics industry saw a slower pace of growth.
This led to total output expanding 9.8 per cent from a year ago, down from the revised 22 per cent jump in August, according to data from the Economic Development Board (EDB) on Oct 25.
Excluding volatile biomedical manufacturing, factory output rose 4.5 per cent.
On a seasonally adjusted month-on-month basis, September’s output was largely unchanged from August. Excluding biomedical manufacturing, it dropped 7.6 per cent.
Year on year, all industries registered an increase in September, except for transport engineering
The electronics industry, which accounts for nearly half of Singapore’s factory production, saw output inch up 1.9 per cent in September, coming off a 50 per cent jump in August.
Within electronics, semiconductor output grew 3.1 per cent year on year, compared with a 55.7 per cent surge in August, while the infocomms and consumer electronics segment contracted 23 per cent, reversing the previous month’s 28.5 per cent expansion..
The computer peripherals and data storage production rose 25.8 per cent, while the other electronic modules and components grew 4.4 per cent.
Overall, the electronics cluster grew 4.6 per cent for the period from January to September 2024, compared with the same period a year ago.
The biomedical manufacturing industry saw output jump, by 62 per cent year on year. This was led by the pharmaceuticals segment expanding 143.9 per cent, on account of a different mix of active pharmaceutical ingredients being produced and higher production of biological products, said EDB.
Meanwhile, the medical technology segment grew 0.9 per cent to meet continued export demand for medical devices. Overall, the biomedical manufacturing cluster contracted 13.8 per cent in the first nine months of
