Singapore’s manufacturing output hit more than two-year high in Nov

According to data from Singapore’s Economic Development Board (EDB), the country’s manufacturing output increased by 11.9% in November on a yearly basis and beat the economists’ estimates which called for a 1.6% increase in a Reuters survey. This was also the fastest yearly pace of growth in manufacturing for the country since March 2014.

The output also increased by 6.1% month-on-month, beating the estimates which suggested a contraction by 2.0%, EDB showed. The monthly growth in manufacturing was the strongest since January 2016.

Data from EDB indicated that biomedical manufacturing increased by 34.8% on a yearly basis. The pharmaceutical segment grew by 36.1% while medical technology segment expanded by 30.8% year-on-year.
The data also showed that the chemical output was up by 3.5%, with the largest increase in petroleum segment by 22%.

Despite the increase in general output, the output in transport engineering and general manufacturing clusters decreased. Manufacturing activity in transport engineering decreased the most by 14.8% in November while general manufacturing industries declined by 0.9% on a yearly basis, data showed.