Singapore August factory output up 19.1%, led by electronics, biomedical manufacturing

SINGAPORE'S factory output continued its winning streak as it rose 19.1 per cent year on year in August, powered by the still-strong electronics cluster and bolstered by double-digit growth in biomedical manufacturing.

The latest data released by the Economic Development Board on Tuesday showed that August's print beat market consensus, but was lower than the previous month's revised 21.2 per cent.

Private sector economists polled by Bloomberg were expecting factory output to grow at a median estimate of 16 per cent in August.

Excluding biomedical manufacturing, industrial production grew 17.8 per cent.

On a month-on-month basis, factory output increased a seasonally-adjusted 0.6 per cent in August. With biomedical manufacturing stripped out, output fell 2.5 per cent.

Most clusters posted positive growth, except general manufacturing industries, which saw output fall 0.6 per cent in August.

Output from the electronics manufacturing cluster grew 38.7 per cent versus a year ago, as its semiconductors and computer peripherals segments grew 55.7 per cent and 20.1 per cent, respectively.

Biomedical manufacturing output recorded robust growth of 25.1 per cent, led by the medical technology (30.8 per cent) and pharmaceuticals (23.1 per cent) segments.

The rest of the clusters also recorded positive output growth - precision engineering cluster expanded 10.7 per cent, transport engineering (5.5 per cent) and chemicals cluster (1.8 per cent).