Singapore’s factory output shrinks by worse-than-expected 3.2% in November

SINGAPORE’S factory output contracted 3.2 per cent year on year in November, deepening from October’s revised 0.9 per cent decrease, according to Economic Development Board data on Friday (Dec 23).

This was worse than the 1.2 per cent contraction estimated by private-sector economists in a Bloomberg poll. October’s performance was the first year-on-year decline in 13 months, but still better than economists expected.

Still, analysts said that November’s steeper fall was unsurprising. November export data earlier this month showed a slump, and industrial production figures tend to follow this, given Singapore’s export-oriented economy, said Oxford Economics senior Asia economist Alex Holmes.