Singapore\'s manufacturing output up 4%

Singapore's manufacturing output in November grew 4.0 percent year on year, eased from the revised growth rate of 8.3 percent in October, the city state's Economic Development Board said on Thursday. Excluding biomedical manufacturing, output increased by a stronger pace of 5.5 percent on year. On a seasonally adjusted month-on-month basis, manufacturing output contracted by 2.8 percent in November, after a 0.2 percent rise in October. Excluding biomedical manufacturing, output fell 4. 7 percent. In particular cluster, output of the electronics cluster grew 11.0 percent year on year in November, supported by double-digit growths in other electronics modules and components segment, computer peripherals segment and semiconductors segment. Output of the transport engineering cluster increased 6.3 percent on year, supported by higher contributions from aircraft engine repair jobs and rig building projects. By contrast, biomedical manufacturing cluster's output fell 2.1 percent on year in November, mainly due to a 3.2 percent drop in pharmaceuticals output. The chemicals cluster's output also fell 2.7 percent on year. The fall was mainly attributed to the 17.2 percent contraction in the petroleum segment, with throughput affected by weak refining margins, the authorities added.