Singapore joins regional race to get ahead of Trump's proposed tariffs

PMI's November rise to 51 suggests that manufacturers are front-loading output

- Colin Tan

Singapore's manufacturing sector joined most of the region in a race to get ahead of Donald Trump's proposed new tariffs when he takes office as US president in January.

The purchasing managers' index (PMI), a barometer of the sector, rose to 51 points in November, up from 50.8 a month earlier.

Readings above 50 indicate growth; those below point to contraction.

Electronics was the key driver, with its PMI reading coming in at 51.6, up from 51.4 in October, achieving its highest point in more than six years, according to data from the Singapore Institute of Purchasing and Materials Management on Dec 2.

Elsewhere, India, along with North Asian markets China, South Korea and Taiwan, showed expansion, while South-east Asian markets that stayed above the 50-point zone included the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. Only Malaysia and Indonesia signalled contraction.

For Singapore, November's expansion marks the 15th consecutive month of growth for the overall manufacturing PMI and the 13th for electronics.

Commenting on the performance of the sub-indexes, NUS Business School's Associate Professor Goh Puay Guan, from the Department of Analytics and Operations, said that the slightly slower growth of inputs compared with finished goods could indicate that manufacturers are drawing from existing inventories of raw materials.