SINGAPORE (June 24): Singapore’s manufacturing output increased 0.9% in May from the same month a year go, said the Economic Development Board (EDB) on Friday.

The biomedical manufacturing cluster’s output expanded 13.2% in May, compared to the same period a year ago.

Among them, the pharmaceuticals and medical technology segments grew 14.2% and 9.2% respectively, where the former's growth was due to a different mix of active pharmaceutical ingredients produced.

Strong export demand for medical devices continued to drive the growth of the medical technology segment. On a year-to-date basis, the biomedical manufacturing cluster increased 17.3% compared to the same period a year ago.

Output of the electronics cluster increased 5.9%, lifted by higher output in the semiconductors and other electronic modules & components segments.

But this was partially offset by declines in the rest of the electronic segments. Cumulatively, output of the electronics cluster grew 5.3% in the first five months of this year compared to the same period last year.

The chemicals cluster's output fell 0.8% on a year-on-year basis in May. The transport engineering cluster's output declined 17.2% year-on-year in May.