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Coffeeshop Chit Chat - SG economy jailat. Factory output dives</TD><TD id=msgunetc noWrap align=right>
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</NOBR> </TD><TD class=msgDate noWrap align=right width="30%">Nov-26 5:45 am </TD></TR><TR class=msghead><TD class=msgT noWrap align=right width="1%" height=20>To: </TD><TD class=msgTname noWrap width="68%">ALL <NOBR></NOBR></TD><TD class=msgNum noWrap align=right> (1 of 7) </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgleft width="1%" rowSpan=4> </TD><TD class=wintiny noWrap align=right>3027.1 </TD></TR><TR><TD height=8></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgtxt>Singapore economic woes worsen as factory output tumbles
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporebusinessnews/view/392339/1/.html
SINGAPORE - Economic woes in recession-hit Singapore worsened on Wednesday as government data showed manufacturing output shrank an annual 12.6 per cent in October.
Analysts said the plunge in output signalled the worst possible start for Singapore in the fourth quarter. The city-state is already reeling from slumping exports in the face of a US-led global downturn.
On a seasonally adjusted month-on-month basis, industrial output plunged 12.7 per cent from September, the Economic Development Board (EDB) said in its monthly report.
The fall was worse than the average 8.1 per cent decline forecast by eight economists in a Dow Jones Newswires poll.
Sharp contractions in the key biomedical and electronics industries led the declines, but other sectors also fell. Only transport engineering and general manufacturing industries, which include food and printing, expanded last month, the EDB said.
Biomedical output tumbled 30.6 per cent in October from last year, pulled down by double-digit falls in pharmaceutical and medical technology-related output, it said.
Electronics fell 14 per cent, affected partly by the relocation of mobile device production to foreign factories, while chemicals eased 5.8 per cent and precision engineering shrank 13.1 per cent.
Transport engineering increased 10.9 per cent and general manufacturing rose 2.9 per cent, the EDB said.
Singapore's economy is heavily dependent on trade, with the US and Europe key markets for its electronic and biomedical goods.
"Although the fall in October was largely exaggerated by the sharp drop in biomedicals production... the underlying trend of a manufacturing recession remains intact," said Kit Wei Zheng, a Singapore-based economist with Citigroup.
The October data showed manufacturing - and the Singapore economy - "could continue contracting" in the fourth quarter, he said.
Singapore's manufacturing sector accounts for nearly a quarter of economic output, with virtually all of its production headed for foreign markets, an indicator of its dependence on the health of the global economy, analysts said.
"The manufacturing sector is very reliant on exports... with exports growth weak, manufacturing will remain weak," said Alvin Liew, economist with Standard Chartered Bank. "That is the predicament of a country that is very dependent on external demand," he said.
Liew is maintaining his 2008 growth forecast of three per cent for Singapore, with downside risk because of the weak manufacturing sector.
"The poor October manufacturing data marks a bad start for the fourth quarter for Singapore, and manufacturing is likely to continue reprising its role as the main drag on growth in that quarter," said Liew.
Last Friday, the government further cut its 2008 growth target to 2.5 per cent, from three per cent previously, after data showed the economy shrank by a worse-than-expected 6.8 per cent in the third quarter.
For 2009, the government said the economy could contract by 1.0 per cent or grow as much as 2.0 per cent.
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http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporebusinessnews/view/392339/1/.html
SINGAPORE - Economic woes in recession-hit Singapore worsened on Wednesday as government data showed manufacturing output shrank an annual 12.6 per cent in October.
Analysts said the plunge in output signalled the worst possible start for Singapore in the fourth quarter. The city-state is already reeling from slumping exports in the face of a US-led global downturn.
On a seasonally adjusted month-on-month basis, industrial output plunged 12.7 per cent from September, the Economic Development Board (EDB) said in its monthly report.
The fall was worse than the average 8.1 per cent decline forecast by eight economists in a Dow Jones Newswires poll.
Sharp contractions in the key biomedical and electronics industries led the declines, but other sectors also fell. Only transport engineering and general manufacturing industries, which include food and printing, expanded last month, the EDB said.
Biomedical output tumbled 30.6 per cent in October from last year, pulled down by double-digit falls in pharmaceutical and medical technology-related output, it said.
Electronics fell 14 per cent, affected partly by the relocation of mobile device production to foreign factories, while chemicals eased 5.8 per cent and precision engineering shrank 13.1 per cent.
Transport engineering increased 10.9 per cent and general manufacturing rose 2.9 per cent, the EDB said.
Singapore's economy is heavily dependent on trade, with the US and Europe key markets for its electronic and biomedical goods.
"Although the fall in October was largely exaggerated by the sharp drop in biomedicals production... the underlying trend of a manufacturing recession remains intact," said Kit Wei Zheng, a Singapore-based economist with Citigroup.
The October data showed manufacturing - and the Singapore economy - "could continue contracting" in the fourth quarter, he said.
Singapore's manufacturing sector accounts for nearly a quarter of economic output, with virtually all of its production headed for foreign markets, an indicator of its dependence on the health of the global economy, analysts said.
"The manufacturing sector is very reliant on exports... with exports growth weak, manufacturing will remain weak," said Alvin Liew, economist with Standard Chartered Bank. "That is the predicament of a country that is very dependent on external demand," he said.
Liew is maintaining his 2008 growth forecast of three per cent for Singapore, with downside risk because of the weak manufacturing sector.
"The poor October manufacturing data marks a bad start for the fourth quarter for Singapore, and manufacturing is likely to continue reprising its role as the main drag on growth in that quarter," said Liew.
Last Friday, the government further cut its 2008 growth target to 2.5 per cent, from three per cent previously, after data showed the economy shrank by a worse-than-expected 6.8 per cent in the third quarter.
For 2009, the government said the economy could contract by 1.0 per cent or grow as much as 2.0 per cent.
[email protected]
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