SINGAPORE: Singapore's manufacturing output ended the year on a strong note, with all but one cluster showing growth.
Industrial production increased 15.6 per cent on a year-on-year basis in December, up from the previous month's revised 14.1 per cent increase, official data showed on Wednesday, Jan 26.
The Economic Development Board EDB said in a media release that December's year-on-year output increased 5 per cent, excluding biomedical manufacturing.
December's output increased by 4.3 per cent on a seasonally adjusted month-on-month basis. Production fell by 1.1 per cent, excluding biomedical manufacturing.
EDB said that the growth for 2021 was 13.2 per cent, a result of December's expansion.
The pharmaceuticals segment increased by 162.3 per cent from a low production base last year, with higher production of biological products and a different mix of active pharmaceutical ingredients. With less demand for medical devices, the medical technology segment fell 3.4 per cent.
Biomedical's production growth for the year came in at 11.1 per cent, said EDB.
Transport engineering output increased by 40.8 per cent in December and 13.2 per cent for the year.
The demand for maintenance, repair and overhaul activities increased by 58.9 percent in December due to the easing of global travel restrictions compared to a year ago, said EDB.
The marine and offshore engineering segment increased by 49.8 per cent with a higher level of work done in shipbuilding and repairing activities.
In December, precision engineering output grew 16.4 per cent and 18.9 per cent for the year.
The machinery and systems segment grew 26 per cent in December, with higher output on semiconductor and process control equipment. The precision modules and components segment fell by 1.6 per cent with a lower output of optical products.
In December, the output in the general manufacturing cluster increased 7.7 per cent and 6.6 per cent for 2021.
In December, the miscellaneous industries segment grew 15.9 per cent, with higher production of construction-related products, jewellery and wearing apparel. The food and beverage tobacco segment increased by 7 per cent because of higher production of beverage products and animal feed.
In contrast, the printing segment fell 10.3 per cent.
In December, output increased 1.2 per cent and 9.2 per cent for the whole year, according to the chemicals cluster.
The segments of petroleum and petrochemicals increased by 14.7 per cent and 8.2 per cent in December, with the former recording throughput growth from the low production base a year ago, due to softer export demand due to the COVID-19 outbreak, said EDB.
However, the specialties segment fell 2.3 per cent with less production of mineral oil additives while the other chemicals segment contracted 11.1 per cent with less output in fragrances.
The electronics cluster was the only to have suffered a decline in December, falling 2.9 per cent from a high production base a year ago.
The infocomms and consumer electronics, as well as other electronic modules and components, grew 30.8 per cent and 5.3 per cent respectively.
On the other hand, the computer peripherals and data storage segment fell 0.1 per cent. The semiconductors segment fell 6.9 per cent.
In 2021, the output of the electronics cluster grew 14.5 per cent.
The next manufacturing performance will be released on February 25, 2022.