Singapore manufacturing output rises 8% in Oct

[SINGAPORE] Another double-digit jump in electronics output boosted Singapore's manufacturing performance in October, and economists expect the sector to continue to power industrial growth in the months ahead.

Even so, the 8 per cent rise in industrial production fell short of market expectations, dragged down by a 2.3 per cent contraction in the biomedical manufacturing cluster.

Excluding the volatile biomedical sector - which shrank on a 6.9 per cent drop in pharmaceuticals output - industrial production would have grown an even stronger 10.4 per cent year-on-year.