Singapore factory output up 5% y-o-y in May

SINGAPORE'S manufacturing output rose 5 per cent in May 2017 compared to a year ago - lower than market consensus. Excluding biomedical manufacturing, output grew 13.1 per cent.

Private sector economists polled by Bloomberg had expected industrial production to grow at a median estimate of 7.5 per cent year-on-year in May 2017.

Output from the electronics cluster rose 35.1 per cent year-on-year, with all segments recording higher output except for the data storage segment. Notably, the semiconductors segment grew 48.3 per cent.

The precision engineering cluster's output grew 19.1 per cent, while the chemicals cluster saw its output grow 5.3 per cent year-on-year.

However, the biomedical manufacturing cluster continued to post a drag, with its factory output shrinking 22.2 per cent year-on-year.

Output for the general manufacturing industries and transport engineering clusters also fell 9 per cent and 12.8 per cent year-on-year, respectively.

On a month-on-month basis, factory output fell a seasonally-adjusted 3.5 per cent in May 2017. Excluding biomedical manufacturing, output fell 4.2 per cent.