Singapore’s manufacturing output jumped by 8.6 percent in January 2021, compared to the same month of 2020, beating analyst expectations and confirming that the economy was off to a strong start this year.
Excluding biomedical manufacturing, industrial production in the ASEAN member state grew by 12.1 percent annually in January 2021, Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB) said at the end of February.
On a seasonally adjusted month-on-month basis, manufacturing output grew by 4.6 percent in the first month of this year.
The electronics, precision engineering, and chemicals sectors were the key drivers of Singapore’s manufacturing output growth.
Electronics production surged by 19.8 percent in January 2021 compared to January 2020, with the semiconductors segment soaring by 23.8 percent, supported by demand from the cloud services, automotive, and 5G markets, EDB said.
Output of precision engineering grew by 15.3 percent year over year in January 2021. Within this industrial sector, production in the machinery and systems segment jumped by 20.2 percent thanks to higher production of semiconductor equipment.
Chemicals output went up 9.0 percent annually in January this year, EDB data showed.
“January turned out to be the third consecutive month that Singapore’s industrial production growth surprised on the upside,” Prakash Sakpal, Senior Economist, Asia, at ING, said, commenting on Singapore’s manufacturing data.
“On the heels of strong exports growth, Singapore’s manufacturing data confirms that the economy is off to a strong start in 2021, which provides more reason for the central bank to maintain its neutral policy stance in April,” Sakpal said, adding that ING is reviewing its economic growth forecasts for Singapore for 2021 for a possible upward revision.