Singapore’s factory output shrinks 0.8% in October, with further contraction expected

SINGAPORE’S factory output shrank 0.8 per cent year on year in October, reversing from the previous month’s gains of 1.6 per cent, according to Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB) data on Friday (Nov 25).

Excluding the typically volatile biomedical cluster, factory output grew 1.9 per cent, though this was slower than September’s revised growth figure of 3 per cent.

Despite being the first year-on-year contraction in 13 months, October’s performance was better than the 1.7 per cent decline expected by private-sector economists in a Bloomberg poll.