Singapore Industrial Output Surges 21.0%

(RTTNews) - Singapore's industrial production grew sharply in August on the back of the strong performance in the electronics cluster, preliminary data from the Economic Development Board revealed on Thursday.

Industrial production grew 21.0 percent year-on-year in August, following a 2.0 percent rebound in July. Economists had expected a 9.6 percent growth.

Excluding bio-medical manufacturing, industrial production jumped 27.5 percent annually in August versus a 3.6 percent rise in the prior month.

On a monthly basis, industrial production climbed 6.7 percent after rising 10.3 percent in July.

Among the major clusters, electronics output grew the most by 49.1 percent annually in August, supported by improved electronics demand as well as a low semiconductor production base in August last year.

Output produced in the chemical cluster was 11.1 percent higher, and the precision engineering output advanced by 7.9 percent.

Precision engineering output rose by 7.9 percent, while biomedical manufacturing output contracted by 16.1 percent.