Manufacturing output falls 1.3% YoY in February

Excluding biomedical manufacturing, output rose 0.3% YoY.

Singapore’s manufacturing output declined 1.3% year-on-year (YoY) in February, according to the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB). Excluding biomedical manufacturing, output rose 0.3% YoY.

The biomedical sector posted the steepest decline at 14.3% YoY, as a 30.0% drop in pharmaceuticals offset 12.4% growth in medical technology.

The electronics sector fell 6.4% YoY despite a 32.2% rise in infocomms & consumer electronics due to declines in computer peripherals & data storage (-1.5%), other electronics modules & components (-7.3%), and semiconductors (-9.5%).

The general manufacturing sector dipped 0.7% YoY, with declines in miscellaneous industries (-0.7%) and food, beverages & tobacco (-0.6%), whilst the printing segment rose 2.0%.

The chemicals sector edged down 0.1% YoY, as petrochemicals (-3.3%) and specialties (-6.5%) fell, whilst other chemicals and petroleum grew 4.6% and 1.4%, respectively.

On the other hand, precision engineering surged 16.2% YoY, with precision modules & components up 20.2% and machinery & systems rising 14.5%.

The transport engineering sector grew 16.0% YoY despite a 2.6% decline in the land segment.

The growth was led by an 18.3% YoY increase in aerospace and a 17.0% YoY rise in marine & offshore engineering, due to higher aircraft parts production, increased maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) jobs, and greater shipyard activity.