Singapore Industrial Output Unexpectedly Falls 1.3%

(RTTNews) - Singapore's industrial production contracted for the first time in eight months in February, preliminary data from the Economic Development Board revealed on Wednesday.

Industrial production dropped 1.3 percent year-on-year in February, reversing an 8.0 percent sharp growth in January. Meanwhile, economists had expected a further growth of 7.5 percent.

Excluding biomedical manufacturing, industrial production rose only 0.3 percent annually in February versus a 6.0 percent increase in the prior month.

On a monthly basis, industrial production tumbled 7.5 percent in February after rebounding 2.8 percent in January.

Among the major clusters, biomedical manufacturing output plunged 14.3 percent annually in February, led by the pharmaceutical segment. Electronics output shrank 6.4 percent. General manufacturing output was 0.7 percent lower compared to last year.

On the other hand, precision engineering output grew 16.2 percent from last year, and the transport engineering segment also expanded markedly by 16.0 percent.