Singapore’s Q4 chemical output grows 13% on trade recovery

SINGAPORE (ICIS news)--Singapore’s chemical production in the fourth quarter of 2009 rose 13% year on year due to a continued recovery in trade worldwide, the country’s Ministry of Trade and Industry said on Friday.

The fourth quarter growth in the chemicals sector was led by the petrochemicals segment, which registered a 38.8% year-on-year rise, followed by the specialties chemicals segment with a 33.7% year-on-year increase, the ministry said in a statement.

For the whole of 2009, chemicals production fell 8.8% year on year, it said.

Meanwhile, Singapore’s production of electronics, the biggest sector in the city-state’s total manufacturing output and an important downstream industry for the chemicals sector, grew 27% year on year in the fourth quarter.

But for the whole of 2009 the sector shrank 8.6% due to poor performance in the infocomms and consumer electronics, data storage and semiconductor segments, the ministry said.

Overall, Singapore’s manufacturing output increased 2.2% year on year in the fourth quarter, while the full-year number showed an annual decline of 4.1%, according to the statement.

Total chemicals output in 2009 was valued at Singapore dollars (S$) 58.5bn ($41.5bn), down 38.8% year on year, it added.

($1 = S$1.41)

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