Singapore’s manufacturing activity expanded for the sixth month straight in April, with a 2.1% y-o-y growth, according to the industrial production index (IPI) released by the Economic Development Board (EDB) Singapore on May 25.
This follows broad-based expansions across all clusters with the exception of the biomedical manufacturing cluster.
Excluding the latter, output expanded 11.1% y-o-y due to the low base from the circuit breaker (CB) measures in April 2020.
Output for the precision engineering cluster grew 20.4% y-o-y, supported by the higher production of semiconductor equipment, as well as the higher production of plastic and metal precision components.
Transport engineering expanded 19.0% y-o-y thanks to near-double growth in the land segment due to the domestic CB measures and lockdowns in export markets, which affected production 2020. The aerospace segment rose 23.8% y-o-y from a low base in 2020. The marine & offshore segment, in contrast, declined 5.9% y-o-y amid low levels of activity in the shipyards.
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Output in the general manufacturing cluster rose 18.0% y-o-y. The miscellaneous industries rose 61.7% y-o-y from a low base in April 2020. Meanwhile, the printing and food, beverage & tobacco segments fell 0.6% y-o-y and 2.3% y-o-y respectively.
Chemicals output increased 14.4% y-o-y due to an expansion in the petrochemical segment and specialities segment, and dragged by a decline in the other chemicals and petroleum segments.
Electronics output expanded 6.1% y-o-y on the back of broad-based growth in all segments.
Output for the biomedical manufacturing cluster fell 22.7% y-o-y in April due to a drag in the pharmaceuticals segment, which declined 24.7% y-o-y due to a different mix of active pharmaceutical ingredients, and mitigated by a 12.7% y-o-y growth in the medical technology segment due to higher export demand for medical devices.
On a three-month moving average basis, manufacturing output expanded 8.0% y-o-y.
On a seasonally adjusted month-on-month basis, manufacturing output increased 1.0%.
Excluding biomedical manufacturing, output fell 0.6% m-o-m.
