Singapore manufacturers' outlook turns sour, survey shows

MANUFACTURING firms in Singapore have turned pessimistic about their future prospects, according to a quarterly Economic Development Board (EDB) survey report released on Friday. This is amid soft global economic conditions - particularly with the slowdown in China - as well as weak oil and commodity prices.

Of the more than 400 manufacturers polled between September and October, 26 per cent expect the business climate to weaken in the next six months ending March 2016 - heavily outnumbering the 10 per cent who expect it to improve. The rest see no change.

That translates into a negative net weighted balance - the difference between the proportion of optimistic and pessimistic firms - of 16 per cent, and marks a significant deterioration from the positive net weighted balance of 2 per cent seen a quarter earlier.

EDB said the softening in business expectations is broad-based, with most clusters, excluding the biomedical manufacturing cluster, foreseeing a weaker business outlook in the six months ahead.