Singapore’s June industrial production falls due to weakness in pharma sector

Singapore’s industrial production during the month of June fell, following weakness in the pharmaceuticals and petrochemicals sectors. Also sharp falls in marine and offshore engineering output led the decline.

Industrial production fell 0.3 percent from a year earlier in June, data released by the Singapore Economic Development Board showed Tuesday. On a seasonally adjusted month-on-month basis, manufacturing output decreased 2.5 per cent last month from May.

The decline in June was almost in line with expectations, with a Reuters poll of 10 economists who gave a median estimate of 0.2 percent y/y and 2.5 percent m/m decline in manufacturing output. Moreover, the fall in June marked the first drop in output since February 2016.

Moreover, production in the highly volatile pharmaceuticals segment fell 15.3 percent on-year in June, after a revised 14.6 percent on-year rise in May. However, excluding biomedical output, production was 2.4 percent higher on-year in June, compared with a 2.5 percent fall in May, the data showed.

In addition, Singapore’s non-oil domestic exports fell 2.3 per cent year-on-year in June, reversing the 11.6 per cent growth seen in May, data released by International Enterprise (IE) showed last week. The contraction in the manufacturing sector is likely to be reflected in the country’s trade figures as well.

Meanwhile, electronics output, which accounts for 27.4 percent of the total value of goods produced in Singapore, increased 19.7 percent y/y in June, following a revised 5.3 percent rise in May, the data showed.