Singapore's manufacturing output grew at its slowest pace in eight months due to a plunge in biomedical manufacturing in July.
Manufacturing output climbed a more than expected 9.9% year-on-year in July, but down sharply from a revised 29.5% rise seen in June, a report from the Economic Development Board showed Thursday. Consensus forecast was for a 9.3% increase. Excluding biomedical manufacturing, output grew 20.2%.
Biomedical manufacturing dipped 11.2% compared to a 30.3% increase in June. The pharmaceuticals segment output declined 10.8%, primarily due to a different mix of active pharmaceutical ingredients produced.
Further pulling down the overall output growth rate, electronic cluster recorded only 24.5% increase after the prior month's 52.8% growth. Output of the general manufacturing cluster increased 13.3% year-on-year, faster than 11.9% in the previous month.
Meanwhile, output of the precision engineering cluster expanded at a faster pace of 50.9%, following a 45.3% rise in June. The strong performance was boosted by the machinery and systems segment which saw output surging by 94.2% in July.
As gains in the land transport and aerospace segments more than offset the decline in the marine and offshore segment, transport engineering cluster showed a 0.8% annual growth in production after decreasing 3.9% last month. Output growth of chemical clusters stagnated at 7.7% in July.
Month-on-month, manufacturing output rose by a seasonally adjusted 1.4% in July, reversing last month's revised 22% fall. However, July's growth figure was smaller than the expected 4.1% increase. Output remained unchanged in July after excluding biomedical manufacturing.
On a three-month moving average basis, manufacturing output in July advanced 31.3% compared to the same period last year. This was notably smaller than the 46.1% expansion seen in June. For the first seven months of 2010, manufacturing output expanded 36.6%.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore suggested a moderate growth in the latter part of the year after growing strongly in the first half. In its annual report, the central bank said the city-state economy is expected to expand by 13% to 15%.
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June 12, 2026 17:14 ET Major central bank action was the focus this week in economic news. The European Central Bank became the first major central bank to move in response to the rising inflationary pressures in the backdrop of the conflict in the Middle East. In North America, the U.S. inflation and trade data as well as Canada’s central bank decision gained attention. The Chinese trade data was the main news in Asia.