SINGAPORE: Singapore’s manufacturing output fell 7.9 per cent year-on-year in December, the 11th month of contraction and slightly worse than analysts had expected.
For the full year, output contracted by 5.2 per cent, the first annual contraction since the financial crisis year of 2009, reversing the 2.6 per cent expansion seen in 2014. Singapore’s manufacturing output fell by 4.2 per cent for both 2009 and 2008.
Excluding the more volatile biomedical segment, output in December fell by a sharper 13 per cent, data from Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB) showed on Tuesday.
On a seasonally adjusted month-on-month basis, December’s output was 2 per cent higher than November’s. But excluding biomedical production, output fell 2.7 per cent.
The important electronics cluster continued to feel the impact of weak global demand, with output falling 12.4 per cent year-on-year in December. For the whole of 2015, production in this sector contracted 6.8 per cent.
The marine & offshore engineering segment, part of the transport engineering cluster, continued to be battered by plunging oil prices. The segment’s output tumbled 40.3 per cent in December on a fall in rigbuilding activity and weaker demand for oilfield & gasfield equipment.
