2018.10.2606:43:00UTC+00Singapore Industrial Production Drops First Time In 10 Months

Singapore's industrial production decreased for the first time in ten months during September, defying expectations for further growth, preliminary data from the Economic Development Board showed on Friday.

Manufacturing output fell 0.2 percent year-on-year following a 3.7 percent increase in August. Economists had forecast a 3.5 percent gain.

The latest decline was the first since December, when production fell 2.4 percent.

On a month-on-month basis, factory output decreased a seasonally adjusted 4.9 percent in September after a 2.2 percent slump in the previous month.

Economists were looking for a 1.8 percent decrease.

The monthly decline was the worst since February last year, when it fell at the same pace.

Excluding bio-medical manufacturing, output grew 1.9 percent from a year ago, but fell 2.4 percent from the previous month.

The transport engineering and precision engineering clusters logged output growth, while the rest of the manufacturing clusters contracted.