Singapore factory output falls for 9th straight month

Nov 30, 2015

Singapore’s manufacturing output in October fell 5.4 per cent from a year earlier, hit by a 14 per cent year-on-year drop in electronics production.

The fall was slightly above the 5.3 per cent decline forecast by economists in a Reuters poll. In September, industrial production fell 4.7 per cent.

Excluding biomedical manufacturing, which tends to be volatile, factory output fell a bigger 6.4 per cent, according to figures relased by Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB) on Thursday (Nov 26).

On a seasonally adjusted month-on-month basis, factory output rose 2.5 per cent in October compared to September. Excluding biomedical manufacturing, output grew 1.7 per cent.

While trade data released last week was better than expected, it still showed that Singapore’s non-oil domestic exports (NODX) in October fell 0.5 per cent from a year earlier.

On Wednesday, the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) trimmed its full-year economic growth forecast for 2015 to "close to 2 per cent" from 2-2.5 per cent previously.

With manufacturing expected to remain weak, MTI’s forecast for growth next year is as low as 1 per cent.

On Wednesday also, IE Singapore cut its forecast for NODX growth this year to 0.5 to 1 per cent, down from 1 to 2 per cent previously.

SOURCE: The Straits Times