On a year-on-year basis, manufacturing output increased 22.0% in March 2011. Excluding biomedical manufacturing, output grew 6.1%. On a three-month moving average basis, manufacturing output in March 2011 increased 13.1% compared to the same period in 2010. On a seasonally adjusted month-on-month basis, manufacturing output grew 22.0% in March 2011. Excluding biomedical manufacturing, output increased 0.1%.

Output of the biomedical manufacturing cluster jumped 57.0% in March 2011 year-on-year. The cluster's strong performance was led by the pharmaceutical segment, which grew 60.9% as a result of a higher value-added mix of active pharmaceutical ingredients being produced. On a year-to-date basis, the biomedical output grew 16.0% compared to the same period a year ago.

Output of the precision engineering cluster expanded 8.6% year-on-year in March 2011. The machinery & systems' output rose 19.2% with higher production of semiconductor related equipment, refrigerating & air-conditioning equipment and machine tool & accessories. The precision modules & components segment, on the other hand, shrank 3.3%. On a year-to-date basis, output of the precision engineering cluster was 24.0% higher than the same period a year ago. 

Output of the electronics cluster increased 6.9% in March 2011 from the same period in 2010. Within the cluster, the infocomms & consumer electronics segment grew 44.4% with higher output of computing related products, while the computer peripherals and semiconductor segments rose 35.0% and 4.4% respectively. In contrast, the data storage segment declined 21.1%, mainly due to the relocation of production overseas that was announced previously. On a year-to-date basis, electronics output expanded 12.1% compared to the same period a year ago.

The chemicals cluster's output grew 6.8% year-on-year in March 2011, with all segments recording higher output. Within the cluster, output of the specialties and petrochemicals segments grew 17.7% and 4.2% respectively in March. However, petroleum throughput inched up only 0.9% as there were some maintenance shutdowns in the refineries during March 2011. Cumulatively, output of the chemicals cluster grew 13.0% from January to March 2011 compared to the same period a year ago.  

The transport engineering cluster's output grew 3.6% year-on-year in March 2011. Output of the land transport segment increased 17.7% on the back of higher production of automotive parts. The aerospace segment grew 4.2% with higher volume of repair and maintenance jobs received while the marine & offshore engineering segment also inched up 0.8% with higher output from oil & gas equipment and ship conversion projects. Cumulatively, output of the cluster grew 5.1% in the first three months of 2011, compared to the same period last year.

The general manufacturing cluster's output grew 2.3% year-on-year in March 2011. The food, beverages & tobacco and miscellaneous segments recorded output growth of 4.7% and 2.4% respectively, while printing output was 1.0% lower in March compared to a year ago. Cumulative output of the cluster in the first three months of 2011 expanded 1.9%, compared to the same period last year.

The next monthly manufacturing performance media release will be issued on 26th May 2011.

Editors' Note: Updates on Monthly Manufacturing Output are available on http://www.news.gov.sg and http://www.sedb.com

For media enquiries, please contact 
Ms Karen Lin 
(Tel: 68326587/ Handphone: 96230355/ Email: karen_lin@edb.gov.sg)

For further information, please contact 
Mr Chong Tse Ming 
(Tel 68326677/ Handphone: 91547959/ Email: quin_chong@edb.gov.sg)