Highlights

• On a year-on-year basis, Singapore's manufacturing output increased 9.0% in December 2010. Excluding biomedical manufacturing, output grew 10.8%.



• On a seasonally adjusted month-on-month basis, manufacturing output declined 11.8% in December 2010. Excluding biomedical manufacturing, output increased 3.0%.
  

(I)	Total Manufacturing Performance
1.	On a year-on-year basis, manufacturing output increased 9.0% in December 2010. Excluding biomedical manufacturing, output grew 10.8%. On a three-month moving average basis, manufacturing output in December 2010 increased 25.5% compared to the same period in 2009. For the whole of 2010, manufacturing output expanded 29.7%. On a seasonally adjusted month-on-month basis, manufacturing output declined 11.8% in December 2010. Excluding biomedical manufacturing, output increased 3.0%.
(II)	Performance by cluster
2.	Output of the precision engineering cluster grew 29.0% year-on-year in December 2010. Production from new plants, and robust demand for refrigerating and semiconductor related equipment led the machinery & systems segment to a gain of 49.1% in December. The precision modules and components segment also grew 7.6% with higher production of metal precision components. For the whole of 2010, the precision engineering cluster's output expanded 40.1%.
3.	The chemicals cluster's output grew 9.1% year-on-year in December 2010.  Higher output in the petroleum and petrochemicals segments more than offset the declines in the other segments. Cumulatively, output of the chemicals cluster grew 12.9% in 2010.
4.	Output of the electronics cluster increased 9.0% in December 2010 from the same period in 2009. Within the cluster, the infocomms & consumer electronics and semiconductor segments recorded output gains of 29.4% and 15.9% respectively while the rest of the segments registered declines. On a year-to-date basis, electronics output increased 35.5%.
5.	The transport engineering cluster's output expanded 8.1% in December 2010 on a year-on-year basis. The aerospace and marine & offshore engineering segments grew 22.4% and 4.7% respectively on the back of higher level of activities to meet scheduled deliveries. For the whole of 2010, output of the cluster declined 4.6%.
6.	Output of the biomedical manufacturing cluster expanded 1.2% year-on-year in December. The moderated performance in the cluster was mainly due to a pullback in pharmaceuticals output, as a different mix of active pharmaceutical ingredients was produced. The medical technology segment also registered a decline with lower export demand for medical instruments. On a year-to-date basis, the biomedical output grew 49.8%.
7.	Output of the general manufacturing cluster edged up 0.7% year-on-year in December 2010. The food, beverages & tobacco segment's output grew 3.4% on the back of festive demand. The printing and miscellaneous industries segments, on the other hand, slipped 0.1% and 0.4% respectively. Cumulative output of the cluster for the whole of 2010 rose 10.7% compared to 2009.
8.	The next monthly manufacturing performance media release will be issued on 25th February 2011.
	Editors' Note: Updates on Monthly Manufacturing Output are available on http://www.news.gov.sg and http://www.sedb.com For media enquiries, please contact  Ms Karen Lin  (Tel: 68326587/ Handphone: 96230355/ Email: karen_lin@edb.gov.sg) For further information, please contact  Mr Chong Tse Ming  (Tel 68326677/ Handphone: 91547959/ Email quin_chong@edb.gov.sg)