Singapore's manufacturing output up 26.1% in June

The manufacturing output of Singapore has increased 26.1 percent in June, according to data released by the Economic Development Board (EDB). However, the level of growth came in slower due to a drop in the pharmaceutical segment.

The figure was below the 36.7 percent market forecast and a far cry from the previous two months that experienced the fastest rate of expansion since records started in 1980. Singapore’s manufacturing output in April and May increased 49.7 percent and 58.6 percent, respectively.

The manufacturing output in June declined 23.4 percent compared with April and May, and excluding biomedical manufacturing, output would have declined by only 1.8 percent.

“This is really the removal, the reverse of the positive distortions that we saw for pharmaceuticals output which was unusually strong in April and May then it turned unusually weak in the month of June. And that's really reflecting a change in the product mix of pharmaceuticals produced,” said Mr. Leong Wai Ho, senior regional economist at Barclays Capital.

Meanwhile, EDB said the manufacturing output in the first half of 2010 grew 41.6 percent.