SINGAPORE's manufacturing output increased 7.4 per cent in July year on year, excluding biomedical manufacturing, which fell 6.9 per cent, reported the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB).
General manufacturing declined by 9.2 per cent year on year in July. Food, beverages, tobacco fell fell 0.9 per cent while printing slipped 2.8 per cent. Miscellaneous products shrank 13.3 per cent with lower production of secondary batteries, wooden furniture and structural metal products.
Electronics declined 8.2 per cent in July year on year. Apart from the infocomms and consumer electronics, other electronic producer output fell as global demand weakened. For the first seven months, electronics declined 1.5 per cent compared to the same period a year ago.
On a three-month moving average basis, manufacturing output in July declined 0.4 per cent compared to the same period in 2010. On a seasonally adjusted month-on-month basis, manufacturing output rose 0.3 per cent, again excluding biomedical manufacturing, which declined 5.6 per cent.
Pharmaceuticals were up 47.7 per cent in July year on year due to different mix of active pharmaceutical ingredients being produced, said the EDB. The medical technology segment's output also expanded 24.2 per cent in July, partly due to the low base last year when production of medical instruments was low.
The output of the precision engineering grew 7.1 per cent year on year. The machinery and systems posted output of air-conditioning equipment, machine tools and semiconductor related equipment. But precision modules and component output declined 4.7 per cent with lower production of electronic connectors and plastic precision components. On a year-to-date basis, the output of the precision engineering cluster was 24.5 per cent higher than the same period a year ago.
The chemical cluster output grew 5.4 per cent year-on-year in July with specialties posting the strongest gains of 17.5 per cent on the back of new production capacities which started earlier this year. In contrast, the petrochemicals and other chemicals segments fell 3.7 per cent and 6.3 per cent respectively due to plant shutdowns for maintenance and inspection. Cumulatively, output of the chemical cluster grew 8.4 per cent from January to July 2011, said the EDB.
Output of the transport engineering cluster rose 1.2 per cent year on year in July. Land transport posted a 24 per cent gain, followed by the aerospace segment which expanded 7.2 per cent. But this was offset by declines in the marine and offshore engineering because of lower shipyard volumes. Overall, output of the cluster grew 5.8 per cent in the first seven months year on year.