Singapore’s manufacturing output fell 12.1 per cent in August 2023 on a year-on-year basis, said the republic’s Economic Development Board (EDB).
On a three-month moving average basis, the manufacturing output slipped 6.6 per cent in August compared to a year ago, the EDB said in a statement today.
As for performance by clusters, the output of transport engineering gained 16.2 per cent year-on-year in August, said the EDB, an agency under the republic’s Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI).
The marine and offshore engineering segment expanded 29.4 per cent, supported by a higher level of activities in the shipyards as well as increased production in oil & gas field equipment.
The aerospace segment grew 15.2 per cent with higher demand for aircraft parts and more maintenance, repair and overhaul jobs from commercial airlines on the back of strong air travel demand globally, said the agency.
On a year-to-date basis, the EDB said the output of the transport engineering cluster increased 18.5 per cent compared to the same period a year ago.
Meanwhile, the output of the biomedical manufacturing cluster declined 1.8 per cent in August on a year-on-year basis. “The medical technology segment grew 3.6 per cent, supported by export demand for medical devices,” it said.
Conversely, the output of the pharmaceuticals segment contracted 5.6 per cent on account of a different mix of active pharmaceutical ingredients being produced compared to a year ago.
Overall, the biomedical manufacturing cluster contracted 5.9 per cent in the first eight months of 2023 compared to the same period last year, according to the EDB.
As for other clusters, chemicals fell 5.9 per cent in August 2023; followed by general manufacturing which decreased 6.1 per cent; precision engineering slipped 14.4 per cent; and electronics decreased 20.0 per cent, it said.
