Singapore industrial production rises for 3rd straight month in October, albeit at a slower pace

Industrial production in Singapore rose for the third straight month during the period of October, although at a much slower pace, compared to a year-ago period. However, it remained above what markets had initially anticipated. On a monthly basis, the country’s factory output turned negative.

Singapore’s manufacturing output rose 1.2 percent from a year earlier in October, data released by the Singapore Economic Development Board showed Friday, compared to a median forecast of 1.1 percent in a Reuters survey. Nonetheless, that was well below the 7.7 percent spike in September.

Further, excluding biomedical manufacturing, output contracted by 1.4 percent. Among components, the electronics, biomedical manufacturing and precision engineering clusters logged growth in output, while the remaining clusters reported output declines.

Month-on-month industrial production edged down 0.1 percent from September when it climbed by 4.1 percent. Economists had forecasted a 2.1 percent decline for the month. In contrast, the transport engineering sector remained a drag on overall production, declining 46.9 percent y/y , while production aerospace industry, rose 9.7 percent in October, compared to a 2.3 percent growth in September.

Meanwhile, the USD/SGD currency pair is trading at a near 11-month low falling 0.41 percent to 1.42, following the release of the data.