Singapore Industrial Production Drops In May

(RTTNews) - Singapore's industrial production declined in May, in contrast to expectations for growth, as output in biomedical and electronics sectors dropped, data from the Economic Development Board of Singapore showed Thursday.

Manufacturing output fell 2.5 percent year-over-year in May, defying economists' expectations of a 2.4 percent rise. Excluding biomedical output, production declined 0.5 percent.

April's increase in output was revised up to 5.3 percent from 4.6 percent.

The latest decline was mainly driven by the 9.2 percent drop in biomedical manufacturing in May, which in turn was dragged down by the pharmaceuticals segment, where production tumbled 11.6 percent.

Output of the electronics segment fell 7.5 percent and that of general manufacturing declined 1.1 percent.

Production grew in the chemicals, transport engineering and precision engineering clusters in May.

On a month-over-month basis, industrial output fell a seasonally adjusted 5.7 percent in May, after a 4 percent drop in the previous month, revised from 4.7 percent. That was the second monthly fall in a row. Economists had forecast a 0.6 percent drop.

Excluding biomedical manufacturing, production dropped 0.4 percent.