Factory activity up for a seventh month, underpinned by faster growth across most indexes.
SINGAPORE – After a stumble in February, factory activity in Singapore regained its balance in March, buoyed by the electronics sector which turned in its best performance since mid-2022.
The overall expansion in manufacturing – for a seventh month in a row – was underpinned by faster growth across most indexes, including new orders, new exports, output, input purchases, finished goods and order backlog. Notably, input purchases under the electronics PMI posted the sharpest increase as it rose by 0.7 point to 50.9 points, while both supplier deliveries and factory output swung from contraction to expansion.
He added that the faster expansion in electronics input purchases suggests that “manufacturers appear more confident about their business outlook”. Also reinforcing this anticipated modest improvement in the near-term outlook is the way Singapore’s PMI has moved in tandem with the broader region’s, particularly in China, as well as in Indonesia, Taiwan and Thailand, she noted.
Ms Ling shared similar concerns but was focused on the unevenness of the latest improvements in the PMI.
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