Bernama
26 Dec 07
http://www.bernama.com.my/bernama/v3/news_lite.php?id=304463
Singapore’s manufacturing performance took a dip in November when its output contracted 1.5 percent compared to November last year, the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB) said today.
It said although there was an increase in output in the transport engineering, electronics and chemicals cluster, its percentage was reduced by the low output recorded by the biomedical manufacturing, precision engineering and general manufacturing industries cluster.
The three-month moving average index for November declined 0.7 percent but the seasonally adjusted month-on-month index for November was up 5.8 percent from October, it said in a statement.
It added that cumulatively, manufacturing output for the first eleven months of 2007 was 6.0 percent higher than the output recorded in the same period last year.
The Board said the rise in output of the transport engineering cluster by 31.9 percent year-on-year in November was primarily due to the 53.5 percent growth in the marine and offshore engineering segment.
It said shipyards continued to be occupied with existing contracts for ship repairing, shipbuilding, ship conversion and fabrication of oil rigs, and some vessels were due for completion in the first half of next year.
EDB said the electronics cluster continued its fourth consecutive year-on-year growth in November with its output expanding by 5.3 percent with higher output from four out of five segments – semiconductors (16.7 percent), electronic modules and components (7.4 percent), information communications and consumer electronics (3.6 percent), data storage (1.1 percent) and computer peripherals (-24.8 percent).
It said the chemicals cluster grew 3.4 percent in November 2007 despite interruptions to normal operations in some chemical plants.
The output of petroleum products increased 0.4 percent, relatively unaffected by maintenance shutdowns in some refinery plants and the output of petrochemicals and specialty chemicals increased 6.6 percent and 9.2 percent respectively.
EDB said output of the precision engineering cluster dipped 0.3 percent year-on-year in November.
It said the contraction of 7.4 percent in the precision modules and components segment offset the gain of 10.5 percent in production of machinery & systems.
The biomedical manufacturing cluster contracted 33.4 percent year-on-year in November as output of the pharmaceuticals segment declined 35.6 percent and medical technology products reduced 15 percent due to lower demand from Europe and the U.S., it added.
It said the general manufacturing industries contracted 0.2 percent in November.
The output of food, beverages and tobacco products grew 6.1 percent while printing industries grew 3.9 percent but these increases were offset by the contraction of 6.0 percent in the miscellaneous manufacturing industries, the board added.