Singaporean industrial output likely to have grown in August

Singaporean industrial output data for the month of August is set to be released this week. According to a DBS Bank research report, industrial output is expected to have risen to 7.5 percent from prior month’s 6 percent.

While downbeat August non-oil domestic exports print of 5 percent from prior 11 percent, might hint of a downside risk to that, the divergence between industrial production and export figures might explain the difference. Inventory stocking and offshoring has weakened the relationship between production output and sales.

“We reckon that the key electronics cluster could remain resilient while positive surprise from the pharmaceutical and transport engineering clusters should not be discounted”, added DBS Bank.