Singapore Manufacturing Output Growth Slows In November

By Agence France-Presse Singapore's industrial output slowed down sharply in November, growing only 7.7% on the year, compared with a 19.3% rise the previous month, the government said late December. Production in the key electronics sector and pharmaceuticals powered the growth, which was at the lower end of a range projected by analysts. Cumulative output for the first 11 months of the year was up 3.1%, the government's Economic Development Board said. November output in the electronics cluster climbed 11.2%, thanks to a 31.0% increase in semiconductor production, which reflected an upturn in global demand, the board said. More hard disk drives were produced, pushing output in the data storage segment to rise 11.2%. The biomedicals cluster grew 27.4 % on the back of a 34% expansion in pharmaceuticals. "Output of medical technology products grew by 7.0%to meet export demand from the U.S. and EU," the board said in a statement. Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2003