SINGAPORE, Aug 26 — Singapore’s manufacturing output grew for the second straight month in July, when the biomedical sector saw a significant expansion that offset electronics’ ongoing decline, the latest data released by the Economic Development Board today shows.

Output from the biomedical cluster rose strongly by 28.5 per cent on-year last month following June’s 1.6 per cent expansion, lifted by the 28 per cent increase in pharmaceuticals, which accounts for 14.9 per cent of the Republic’s total manufacturing.

This has helped push July’s overall manufacturing output up by 3.3 per cent on-year, up from June’s 0.8 per cent growth, at a time when Singapore’s manufacturing performance is showing a mixed performance due to economic uncertainties overseas and manpower constraints at home.

Against this backdrop, the electronics cluster — Singapore’s biggest manufacturing sector — suffered another month of output decline by 2.9 per cent on-year in July following June’s 4.4 per cent drop, with semiconductors’ output dipping 1.6 per cent on-year last month.

This came as the cluster’s decline in exports stretched to a 24th consecutive month in July, according to data by the International Enterprise (IE) Singapore last week.

In other sectors, chemicals’ manufacturing performance remained strong in July as output grew by 9.2 per cent. But marine and offshore engineering’s output dropped by 9 per cent on-year following June’s 9.1 per cent rise, reflecting the volatile demand for Singapore’s transport engineering products. — TODAY