Manufacturing output expands in March

SINGAPORE — Manufacturing output rose 10.2 per cent last month, beating economists’ expectations of a slower pace of expansion after February’s double-digit growth.

Total manufacturing output for March increased at the same pace with February’s revised output growth of 10.2 per cent, showed data from the Economic Development Board (EDB) on Wednesday (April 26). 

Economists in a Reuters poll had expected a 7.1 per cent year-on-year increase in March.

Excluding biomedical manufacturing, output grew 12.4 per cent.

The electronics cluster which takes up close to one-third of total manufacturing expanded by 37.7 per cent year-on-year last month, easing slightly from the 40.3 per cent increase the previous month, largely driven by the semiconductors segment which posted a robust growth of 54.6 per cent.

The volatile biomedical manufacturing cluster reverted to expansion in March at 2 per cent, compared to the 12.6 per cent contraction in the previous month, as the expansion of medical technology helped offset the smaller contraction from pharmaceuticals.

The chemicals and precision engineering clusters also expanded at 3.5 per cent and 12.8 per cent year-on-year, respectively.

Meanwhile, the transport engineering and general manufacturing clusters contracted by 15.6 per cent and 5.1 per cent.