2020.06.2606:43:00UTC+00Singapore Industrial Production Falls Unexpectedly In May

Singapore industrial production dropped unexpectedly in May, data from the Economic Development Board showed on Friday.

Industrial production decreased 7.4 percent year-on-year in May, after a 13.6 percent increase in April. Economists had forecast a 6.6 percent rise.

Excluding biomedical manufacturing, industrial output declined 10.4 percent annually in May, following a 2.8 percent fall in the prior month.

Among clusters, transport engineering logged the biggest fall of 40.7 percent annually in May. General manufacturing decreased 26.9 percent and chemicals fell 13.5 percent.

Precision engineering and electronics decreased 5.3 percent and 1.0 percent, respectively.

Meanwhile, biomedical manufacturing grew 5.9 percent, mainly driven by the growth in pharmaceuticals segment.

On a monthly basis, industrial production decreased 16.5 percent in May, following a 0.5 percent fall in the prior month. Output was expected to fall of 6.0 percent.