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http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stori...000933/1/.html

SINGAPORE: Singapore's manufacturing output rose 12.4 per cent in July from a year earlier, due largely to a jump in biomedical output.

This far exceeds analysts' expectations of a one per cent decline.

Compared with June, industrial production climbed 23 per cent on a seasonally adjusted basis.

Data released Wednesday from the Economic Development Board showed that output from the biomedical manufacturing cluster more than doubled, leaping 125.4 per cent on-year on the back of a jump in pharmaceuticals.

Excluding biomedicals, overall manufacturing output would have declined 7.4 per cent from a year ago.

The pace of declines in other clusters also moderated last month with chemicals, electronics and general manufacturing showing low-single digit falls.

Output of the transport engineering cluster shrank 10.2 per cent from a year earlier due to contractions in the aerospace, offshore engineering and land transport segments.

In all, output in the first seven months contracted 10.3 per cent compared to the same period last year.

- CNA/yb