Here are the 2 manufacturing clusters that disappointed analysts

They remained in contraction territory.

According to OCBC, the manufacturing sector saw a recovery to positive growth (+1.1% yoy and +37.6% qoq saar) for the first time after three consecutive quarters of contraction. The jump was on the back of stronger performance from the biomedical (namely pharmaceuticals) and electronics clusters.

Pharmaceuticals output has been expanding by double-digit growth for the March-May 2013 period, reversing earlier declines seen in January-February 2013.

Here's more from OCBC:

Electronics output also appear to have bottomed in February 2013 at the index level, and the on-year growth has finally turned positive for two straight months in April and May 2013, after contracting yoy since March 2011.

However, outside of these two key manufacturing clusters, the other clusters like chemicals, precision engineering, and transport engineering remain in contraction territory. So the importance of biomedical and electronics output growth sustaining into 2H13 cannot be under-estimated.

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