S'pore factory output up for 7th straight month

Factory production in Singapore rose for a seventh straight month in January, with local manufacturers expressing positive business sentiment for the first half of 2025 despite global uncertainty.

- Rosalind Ang

Total output expanded 9.1 per cent year on year, after a revised 5.2 per cent increase in December and a 10.8 per cent rise in the month before that.

Excluding the more volatile biomedical industry, output increased 7.3 per cent, according to data from the Economic Development Board on Feb 26.

On a seasonally adjusted month-on-month basis, manufacturing output increased 4.5 per cent. Excluding biomedical manufacturing, output increased 4.2 per cent.

Biomedical manufacturing output grew the most, rising by 19.3 per cent year on year. Output in the pharmaceuticals segment rose 33.6 per cent, on account of a different mix of active pharmaceutical ingredients being produced and higher production of biological products compared with a year ago.

Conversely, the output of the medical technology segment declined 3.5 per cent owing to lower export demand for medical devices.

The electronics industry, which accounts for nearly half of Singapore's manufacturing output, saw an increase of 18.9 per cent in January year on year, after the revised 3.1 per cent rise in December.