Singapore manufacturing rises 3.6 percent in October as electronics jump
Associated Press
11/25/09 11:10 PM PST
SINGAPORE — Singapore's manufacturing rose in October for a third month in four as demand for the city-state's electronics surged.
Industrial production rose 3.6 percent from a year earlier following a 6.3 percent drop in September, the Trade and Industry Ministry said in a statement Thursday. Manufacturing in October fell a seasonally adjusted 6.7 percent from September.
Electronics, which is about a fourth of manufacturing, rose 18 percent last month, the ministry said. Pharmaceuticals, which account for about a fifth of Singapore's industrial production, fell 0.7 percent while chemicals production dropped 14 percent.
The island's economy expanded an annualized seasonally adjusted 14.2 percent in the July to September period, a second straight quarter of growth after a year of contraction. The government expects the economy to shrink up to 2.5 percent this year and between 3 percent and 5 percent next year.
