Singapore's industrial production has had a good month in June as it recorded an increase of 13.1 percent in manufacturing output, according to the latest data from the Economic Development Board.
The ever-strong electronics cluster reflected a 25.5 percent output expansion in the said month, thanks to the stellar 37.4 percent growth in the semiconductor segment. However, the cluster has seen declines in areas such as the info-comms & consumer electronics and data storage.
The month's strong industrial output was boosted particularly by the biomedical manufacturing sector, which posted an 18.3 percent growth in outputs. The production of pharmaceuticals grew 21.4 percent on the back of higher output of ingredients and biological products. Excluding the cluster, the manufacturing output would have grown by only 11.9 percent.
The medical technology segment also managed to grow 8.5 percent given the high export demand for medical devices.
The chemicals cluster has also seen a resilient set of numbers for the said month, with output jumping 9.4 percent. The cluster relied on the 18.1 percent expansion in the other chemicals and the 12.8 percent growth in petrochemicals segments.
The other chemicals segment anchored its growth on the higher output of fragrances whilst the petrochemicals segment saw growth due to the low base in June last year as some plants had maintenance shut down.
On the precision engineering cluster, the precision modules & components showed promise with a 7.4 percent output growth, pushing overall cluster production to a decent 5.3 percent improvement.
The transport engineering cluster also reported gains, albeit only slightly. For the said month, the sector produced 4.6 percent more than last year. The aerospace and land transport segments expanded 24.9 percent and 23.9 percent, respectively. Despite the growth in the two segments, the marine & offshore arm remained lacklustre, with output falling by 11.8 percent.
Out of all the clusters, the general manufacturing industries reported the only contraction in output. The cluster reported 5.3 percent decline in production due to the easing in the food, beverage & tobacco segments. The miscellaneous industries segment also declined, down 6.1 percent with lower production of construction-related materials. It was the same story with the printing segment, which contracted by 11.6 percent on a lower volume of print jobs.
