biomedical manufacturing

RHB's Barnabas Gan has downgraded his manufacturing outlook to 3.0% in 2022 from 4.0% previously.

The CLA Real Estate-established has committed US$220 million to six early-stage companies and three venture partners.

Excluding the biomedical manufacturing sector, output surged by 9.7% y-o-y.

This marks a return to growth after the 2.2% decline in manufacturing output recorded in September.

The decline was no thanks to a shrinkage in the output of the biomedical segment.

Singapore’s factory output remained in the red with a 6.7% year-on-year contraction in June, following volatility in the biomedical cluster. This marks the metric’s second straight month of decline.

A further drop in the cluster’s output was mitigated by a 2.8% growth in the machinery and systems segment. This was enabled by stronger production of semiconductor equipment.With a 1.0% fall, the electronics cluster was the last to register a contr

The good performance of the pharmaceutical sector suggests “Singapore is well-positioned to produce and export medical necessities,” says United Overseas Bank (UOB) economist Barnabas Gan.

"Even without the US-China trade war, the Covid-19 pandemic is the black swan event that has... impacted global demand and dashed hopes of a manufacturing rebound,” says Selena Ling, who heads OCBC’s treasury research and strategy department.

The 3.4% increase in factory output exceeds the 5.8% drop predicted by private-sector economists in a Bloomberg poll, amid expectations of lower output from the earlier than usual Chinese New Year vacation, as well as uncertainty from Covid-19