According to recent data released by the Economic Development Board, industrial production in Singapore fell by 9.2 percent year-on-year in March, marking the sharpest decline in seven months. This follows a 4.4 percent increase reported in February, vastly contradicting the predicted 1.5 percent drop.
This significant decrease, the most substantial since August 2023 when production escalated by 12.9 percent, suggests a volatile industrial landscape. When excluding bio-medical manufacturing, the annual decrease for industrial production in March stands at 5.9 percent - markedly contrasting with the 2.0 percent increase observed in the previous month.
Comparing to the previous month, March's industrial production fell dramatically by 16.0 percent, distancing itself from February's robust recovery of 14.6 percent.
The biomedical engineering sector recorded the most substantial annual decrease among the major sectors, down by 34.3 percent in March, with the electronics sector following close behind with an 11.3 percent decline. However, in the same month, the chemicals sector witnessed a rise in production output, moving up by 4.2 percent.
