Singapore: Manufacturing and electronics PMIs decrease in August
The Purchasing Managers’ Indices (PMIs)—produced by the Singapore Institute of Purchasing and Materials Management (SIPMM)—for the manufacturing sector dipped in August, as did the electronics PMI.
The manufacturing PMI clocked in at 50.0 in August, slightly down from the 50.1 reading in July and landing on the 50-point threshold that separates expansion from contraction in the sector.
Meanwhile, the electronics PMI fell to 49.6 in August from 50.5 in July.
Commenting on the readings, Alvin Liew, senior economist at UOB, noted:
“We are cautiously positive on the outlook for transport engineering, general manufacturing, and precision engineering, to drive overall manufacturing growth (which likely explains why the headline PMI remains in expansion) but we are also cognizant of a potentially much slower electronics performance (as seen in the latest dip in August electronics sector PMI and July’s industrial production data) and weaker demand from North Asian economies that could increasingly weigh on NODX momentum (as reflected in July’s NODX data) and manufacturing demand.”