Singapore (VNA) – Singapore's manufacturing outputin March grew 16.5 percent over the same month last year, after contacting for fourmonths, thanks to a surge in biomedical manufacturing, said the country’s EconomicDevelopment Board (EDB) on April 24.

Excluding biomedical manufacturing, however, factory outputwas unchanged, meaning the industry had not been significantly impacted by theCOVID-19 outbreak last month.

The EDB cautioned that a more profound impact is likely to beseen from April onwards due to the implementation of the circuit breakermeasures.

On a month-on-month basis, output increased 21.7 percent inMarch. Excluding biomedical manufacturing, output grew 2.5 percent, datashowed.

The biomedical manufacturing posted the largest increase at91.4 percent last month, compared to the same period in 2019.

Pharmaceuticals output increased 126.6 percent on the backof higher production of active pharmaceutical ingredients and biologicalproducts, while the medical technology segment rose 6.3 percent with higherexport demand for medical devices.

Precision engineering also expanded at 21.2 percent in Marchcompared to a year ago.

The cluster’s growth was largely attributed to the machineryand systems segment which grew 28.7 percent on account of higher production ofsemiconductor equipment, said EDB.

Transport engineering output rose by 7.6 percent, supportedby higher levels of repair and maintenance activities from commercial airlines.

The marine and offshore engineering segment however fell 0.7percent due to lower level of work done in offshore projects.

Chemicals output grew 0.8 percent year-on-year in March onthe back of higher petroleum refining throughput.

Electronics output decreased 9.2 percent on ayear-to-year-basis, with all segments within the cluster recording declines.

General manufacturing output dropped 7.9 percent with allsegments recording output declines, including the miscellaneous industries andprinting, as well as food, beverage and tobacco segments./.