Factory output grew 8 per cent on year in June, beating expectations and strengthening from May’s downward-revised figure of 3.6 per cent growth, data from the Economic Development Board showed on Friday (Jul 25).
In a Bloomberg poll, private-sector economists had predicted a 7.1 per cent expansion.
Excluding the volatile biomedical manufacturing cluster, output was up 8.2 per cent year, improving from May’s revised growth of 4.8 per cent.
However, on a seasonally adjusted monthly basis, output was largely unchanged from May. Excluding biomedical manufacturing, output fell 0.8 per cent, in contrast to 2.4 per cent growth in the previous month.
All clusters saw year-on-year rises in production, with the exception of the general manufacturing cluster.
The linchpin electronics cluster’s output grew 6.6 per cent in June, building on May’s 3.4 per cent gain.
Within this cluster, the largest growth was seen for infocomms and consumer electronics, at 22.4 per cent. This was followed by semiconductors at 4.3 per cent.
Such growth more than offset contractions in computer peripherals and data storage (-14.6 per cent), as well as other electronic modules and components (-14.8 per cent).
The precision engineering cluster saw the greatest year-on-year rise in June, at 18.9 per cent.
Within this cluster, the machinery and systems segment expanded 19.3 per cent, led by higher production of semiconductor equipment and process control equipment.
The biomedical manufacturing cluster saw output rise 11.3 per cent, with a 38.8 per cent rise in pharmaceuticals due to a low year-ago base. This more than made up for a 2.5 per cent fall in medical technology output.
Transport engineering output rose 9.2 per cent, led by a 20.6 per cent growth in the aerospace segment. This was bolstered by higher production of aircraft parts and more maintenance, repair and overhaul jobs from commercial airlines.
This more than made up for declines of 2.6 per cent in marine and offshore engineering and 11.7 per cent in the land segment.
The chemicals cluster saw 1.1 per cent growth. The petrochemicals segment grew 6.9 per cent, due in part to a low production base last year with plant maintenance shutdowns.
Growth was also seen for the other chemicals segement (5 per cent) and petroleum (1.8 per cent). In contrast, the specialties segment declined 6.5 per cent, with lower production of industrial gases, biofuels and food additives.
The general manufacturing cluster was the only one where output fell, by 11.6 per cent. All segments declined except for printing, which grew 2.5 per cent.
The food, beverages and tobacco segment declined 12.7 per cent with lower production of beverage products and milk powder. The miscellaneous industries segment contracted 11.6 per cent, mainly due to lower output of structural metal components and products, as well as paper and paperboard containers and boxes.
