MANUFACTURERS had a remarkable year in 2017, with factory output expanding at the fastest rate since 2010, even though December’s industrial production figures fell short of expectations, ending the year on a cautious note.

Singapore’s factory output saw a decrease of 3.9% in December 2017 compared to the same month the previous year, missing economists’ forecasts of a 0.8% growth. Excluding the volatile biomedical manufacturing sector, production would have increased by 4.5%.

On a month-on-month basis, when seasonally adjusted, output fell by 2% in December, with a 0.7% dip when biomedical was excluded.

Overall, Singapore’s industrial production rose by 10.1% in 2017, marking a pace not observed since the post-recession recovery in 2010.

Precision engineering emerged as the strongest sector, recording an 18.2% year-on-year growth in December, largely driven by semiconductor demand, resulting in a total annual output increase of 17.8%.

The electronics sector, a key economic growth driver in 2017, grew at a more moderate rate of 4.2% in December, supported by semiconductors and computer peripherals, with an overall growth of 33.5% for the year.

The chemicals sector increased by 14.4% in December, with all segments reporting growth, contributing to a 6.2% rise for the year.

General manufacturing posted a 2.9% increase in December, although its total output for 2017 declined by 1.6% compared to 2016.

In contrast, the transport engineering sector fell by 11.7%, primarily due to continued declines in the marine and offshore engineering segment, which dropped by 18.2%. Overall, this sector’s output was 6.9% lower than in 2016.

The highly volatile biomedical manufacturing sector experienced a significant plunge of 34.7% in December year-on-year, with a year-to-date decline of 9.3% compared to the previous year.