Singapore's electronics segment dragged February industrial production down

Output crashed by 21.1%.

According to Maybank Kim Eng, industrial Production (IP) in Feb 2013 slumped by -16.6% YoY as all major clusters registered contractions, and in tandem with the earlier released NODX drop and partly reflecting the extended factory closures due to Lunar New Year festivity. 

MoM, IP dropped by -11.3% while the seasonally adjusted measure posted a marginal decline of just -0.7%.

For the first two months of this year, IP was down by -8.6% YoY compared to +0.3% YoY registered over the corresponding period in 2012.

Here's more from Maybank Kim Eng:

“Electronics” was the main culprit. The slide in electronics output approached its second year as it fell by -21.1% YoY in Feb 2013.

Data Storage segment distorted headline figures as a result of last year’s high base created from the ramp up in production to compensate global supply disruptions due to flooding in Thailand.

The other subsegments which contracted last month included Infocomms Products & Consumer Electronics, Computer Peripherals and Semi-Conductor. 

The notable exception was output of Other Electronic Modules or Components (Feb 2013: +11.7% YoY; Jan 2013: +19.1% YoY) which gained for a sixth straight month.