<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=452 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top width=452 colSpan=2>Published December 27, 2008
</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top width=452 colSpan=2>Factory output slips 7.5% despite pharma rebound
Economists had been expecting a 15% decline though
By TEH SHI NING
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DESPITE a double-digit rebound in the biomedical sector, November's manufacturing output fell 7.5 per cent from a year back, according to data released by the Economic Development Board yesterday.
<TABLE class=picBoxL cellSpacing=2 width=100 align=left><TBODY><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR class=caption><TD>SURGING DEMAND
The pharmaceutical segment grew 17.5% from last November due to a change in the mix of active pharmaceutical ingredients produced</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>This was gentler than the average 15 per cent decline that economists had been expecting, thanks to the volatile biomedical sector's positive contribution. But it did signal another month of year-on-year contraction in Singapore's industrial production following the 12.1 per cent plunge in October.
The three month moving average index was 5.5 per cent down from the same period last year. Cumulative output for 2008, excluding December, was also 3.3 per cent lower than the first eleven months of 2007.
But month-on-month, increased pharmaceutical production boosted November's factory output 6.2 per cent over October's on a seasonally-adjusted basis.
The pharmaceutical segment grew 17.5 per cent from last November due to a change in the mix of active pharmaceutical ingredients produced, driving the biomedical cluster's output 14.9 per cent up overall.
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=5 width=120 align=left border=0><TBODY><TR><TD><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=4 width=200 align=left border=0><TBODY><TR bgColor=#4e6e78><TD colSpan=2 height=8>[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Related article: </TD></TR><TR bgColor=#d5e9f1><TD>
</TD><TD>[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-2]Click here for EDB's news release[/SIZE][/FONT]</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>Still, this could not offset the decline in almost all other manufacturing sectors. 'The underlying weakness in manufacturing outside biomedicals actually intensified in November,' observed Citi economist Kit Wei Zheng.
According to the analyst, industrial production excluding biomedical output fell 13.5 per cent year-on-year in November, worsening from the 7.5 per cent fall in October.
The electronics slump persisted too. Steep declines of 17.6 per cent in semiconductors output and 58.2 per cent in infocomms and consumer electronics output dragged electronics production 19.4 per cent lower overall in November.
David Cohen, an economist with consultancy Action Economics, said: 'Electronics output continued to slip and given the continued weakness in export demand, it's probably not worth making too much of the uptick from pharmaceutical production, which is volatile month to month.'
Last year, about 30 per cent of Singapore's value added came from the electronics industries, and about 24 per cent from biomedical manufacturing.
Sharp contractions in output were also seen in the precision engineering (19.1 per cent) and chemicals (20.1 per cent) clusters.
'The magnitude of the declines that we see in electronics, precision engineering and chemicals are similar to those observed in Taiwan and Korea in November,' said Barclays Capital economist Leong Wai Ho.
This, he added, is 'related to tightening of the availability of trade credits since the collapse of Lehman Brothers, which severely curtailed export orders across much of trade-dependent Asia from November'. He expects more weakness in these major clusters in December.
As for the general manufacturing industries, output fell 1.7 per cent with a 13.4 per cent fall in printing output outweighing growth in food, beverages and tobacco production.
The transport engineering cluster grew, boosted by higher aerospace output and ship repairs, but at a slower rate of 5.2 per cent compared to October's 11.7 per cent.
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</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top width=452 colSpan=2>Factory output slips 7.5% despite pharma rebound
Economists had been expecting a 15% decline though
By TEH SHI NING
<TABLE class=storyLinks cellSpacing=4 cellPadding=1 width=136 align=right border=0><TBODY><TR class=font10><TD align=right width=20>
</TD><TD>Email this article</TD></TR><TR class=font10><TD align=right width=20>
</TD><TD>Print article </TD></TR><TR class=font10><TD align=right width=20>
</TD><TD>Feedback</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>DESPITE a double-digit rebound in the biomedical sector, November's manufacturing output fell 7.5 per cent from a year back, according to data released by the Economic Development Board yesterday.
<TABLE class=picBoxL cellSpacing=2 width=100 align=left><TBODY><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR class=caption><TD>SURGING DEMANDThe pharmaceutical segment grew 17.5% from last November due to a change in the mix of active pharmaceutical ingredients produced</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>This was gentler than the average 15 per cent decline that economists had been expecting, thanks to the volatile biomedical sector's positive contribution. But it did signal another month of year-on-year contraction in Singapore's industrial production following the 12.1 per cent plunge in October.
The three month moving average index was 5.5 per cent down from the same period last year. Cumulative output for 2008, excluding December, was also 3.3 per cent lower than the first eleven months of 2007.
But month-on-month, increased pharmaceutical production boosted November's factory output 6.2 per cent over October's on a seasonally-adjusted basis.
The pharmaceutical segment grew 17.5 per cent from last November due to a change in the mix of active pharmaceutical ingredients produced, driving the biomedical cluster's output 14.9 per cent up overall.
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=5 width=120 align=left border=0><TBODY><TR><TD><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=4 width=200 align=left border=0><TBODY><TR bgColor=#4e6e78><TD colSpan=2 height=8>[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Related article: </TD></TR><TR bgColor=#d5e9f1><TD>
According to the analyst, industrial production excluding biomedical output fell 13.5 per cent year-on-year in November, worsening from the 7.5 per cent fall in October.
The electronics slump persisted too. Steep declines of 17.6 per cent in semiconductors output and 58.2 per cent in infocomms and consumer electronics output dragged electronics production 19.4 per cent lower overall in November.
David Cohen, an economist with consultancy Action Economics, said: 'Electronics output continued to slip and given the continued weakness in export demand, it's probably not worth making too much of the uptick from pharmaceutical production, which is volatile month to month.'
Last year, about 30 per cent of Singapore's value added came from the electronics industries, and about 24 per cent from biomedical manufacturing.
Sharp contractions in output were also seen in the precision engineering (19.1 per cent) and chemicals (20.1 per cent) clusters.
'The magnitude of the declines that we see in electronics, precision engineering and chemicals are similar to those observed in Taiwan and Korea in November,' said Barclays Capital economist Leong Wai Ho.
This, he added, is 'related to tightening of the availability of trade credits since the collapse of Lehman Brothers, which severely curtailed export orders across much of trade-dependent Asia from November'. He expects more weakness in these major clusters in December.
As for the general manufacturing industries, output fell 1.7 per cent with a 13.4 per cent fall in printing output outweighing growth in food, beverages and tobacco production.
The transport engineering cluster grew, boosted by higher aerospace output and ship repairs, but at a slower rate of 5.2 per cent compared to October's 11.7 per cent.
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