Singapore's manufacturing output in March fell 2.9 percent from a year ago, mainly due to lower production in the biomedical manufacturing cluster.

According to a statement by the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB) on Thursday, on a seasonally adjusted month-on-month basis, industrial output in March dropped 9.3 percent from February.

The biomedical manufacturing cluster shrank 21.1 percent in March, mainly due to the contraction of 25.8 percent in the pharmaceuticals segment.

The transport engineering cluster grew 4.3 percent. The aerospace and land segments expanded while the marine segment contracted.

The chemicals cluster grew 1.9 percent year-on-year in March while the general manufacturing industries grew 10.9 percent in the same month.

Output of the electronics cluster increased 0.7 percent. The overall growth was moderated by contractions in the data storage and infocomms and consumer electronics segments.

The precision engineering cluster contracted 4.5 percent year- on-year in March.

Cumulatively, output in the first three months this year rose 4. 3 percent compared to the same period last year.

Source: Xinhua