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Singapore factory output up by 14.6% in November on electronics export demand

  • Dec 24, 2021

SINGAPORE’S factory output jumped by 14.6 per cent year on year in November, according to figures from the Economic Development Board (EDB) on Friday (Dec 24).

The latest growth came on the back of a surge in production of active pharmaceutical ingredients, and was also supported by a pick-up in semiconductor output. Industrial production rose by 12.4 per cent when the volatile biomedical cluster was excluded.

Output by the linchpin electronics cluster grew 10.2 per cent, faster than the 6.7 per cent in the month before. The EDB noted that all segments recorded higher production “on the back of strong export demand”, taking the cluster growth to 16.5 per cent in the year to date.

Expansion was across the board, with other clusters also posting robust growth:

  • Biomedical manufacturing (20.1 per cent)
  • Transport engineering (31.2 per cent)
  • Chemicals (8.5 per cent)
  • Precision engineering (13.7 per cent)
  • General manufacturing (8.8 per cent)

November’s manufacturing output cooled from the 17.0 per cent expansion in October, but was still ahead of the median estimate of 13.7 per cent growth in a private-sector Bloomberg poll.

On a seasonally adjusted, monthly basis, factory production was up by 2.3 per cent overall, or 2.7 per cent when biomedical manufacturing was excluded.

Given the latest data, Barclays economist Brian Tan said in a note that economic growth is “on track to moderate to 5.5 per cent year on year in the fourth quarter of 2021”,  on an unfavourable year-ago base.

Still, manufacturing output is now up by 13.0 per cent year on year for the first 11 months of 2021. Barnabas Gan, economist at UOB, told The Business Times that “despite the high-base growth rate seen in 2021, global trade activity is expected to stay buoyant for the new year” and has projected full-year growth of 4.0 per cent in 2022.

“While it is too early to evaluate the potential impact of the Omicron variant, it remains to be the key downside risk to global trade demand, as well as Singapore’s export and manufacturing prognosis,” Gan added, referring to the new strain of the novel coronavirus.

Source: https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/government-economy/singapore-factory-output-up-by-146-in-november-on-electronics-export-demand