Singapore's industrial production declined at a faster-than-expected pace in February, after rising in the previous month, preliminary figures from the Economic Development Board showed Thursday.
Industrial production fell 3.6 percent year-over-year in February, in contrast to a 1.3 percent increase in January. Economists had forecast a 2.2 percent fall for the month. Excluding biomedical manufacturing output dropped by 3.9 percent.
The latest rate of decline was the sharpest since June 2013, when it dropped 4.7 percent.
Among components, output of the biomedical manufacturing cluster declined 2.5 percent in February from a year ago. Output of the precision engineering cluster contracted by 5.8 percent with all segments registering output declines.
Output of the electronics cluster decreased 4.5 percent annually in February and transport engineering cluster output plunged by 7.2 percent.
Meanwhile, output of the general manufacturing industries cluster grew 1.3 percent and chemical cluster's output remained unchanged in February.
On a monthly basis, industrial production climbed a seasonally adjusted 4.1 percent in February, much faster than economists' expectations for a 1.3 percent increase. In January, production had fallen sharply by 4.7 percent.[instaforex news]