S’pore factory output jumps 16.1% in Sept with big pharma boost

Biomedical production surged 45.9% year on year; pharma segment soared 55.3%

- Sue-Ann Tan Business Correspondent

Singapore’s factory output made a surprisingly big rebound in September, reversing its drop in August, thanks to pharmaceuticals.

Manufacturing output jumped 16.1 per cent year on year, exceeding the forecast of analysts polled by Bloomberg who expected a rise of just 0.4 per cent.

This was also a reversal of the revised 9 per cent slide in August, after higher US tariffs on more than 90 countries took effect that month.

September’s strong performance came on the back of a surge in pharmaceutical production. Excluding biomedical manufacturing, output increased 5.4 per cent.

On a seasonally adjusted month-on-month basis, manufacturing output rose 26.3 per cent.

Analysts said this shows strong external demand and upgraded their gross domestic product (GDP) forecasts for 2025.

Maybank analysts Brian Lee and Chua Hak Bin said: “The manufacturing and trade-related services sectors are benefiting from strong external demand, which has largely been unaffected by (US President Donald) Trump’s tariff hikes.”

They added that this demand is supported by the ongoing artificial intelligence capital expenditure boom, which has “supercharged orders” for chips, servers and electronic components.

It is also helped by Singapore's low 10 per cent baseline reciprocal tariff and significant tariff exemptions for most major semiconductor and pharmaceutical multinationals.

In August, the Ministry of Trade and Industry upgraded Singapore’s GDP growth forecast for 2025 to between 1.5 per cent and 2.5 per cent.