Measuring Manufacturing
Production - Singapore
Presentation at International Workshop
“From Data to Accounts: Measuring
Production in National Accounting”
9 Jun 09
Statistical System

Singapore Department of Statistics (SDOS)


Central statistical authority responsible for official
statistics on Singapore’s economy and population
Decentralised statistical system


Official statistics collected and compiled by the
SDOS and Research and Statistics Units (RSUs)
in various government ministries and statutory
boards
RSUs specialise in statistics on key areas under
the purview of their parent organisations
GDP by Production Approach

Industrial classification



Singapore Standard Industrial Classification
(SSIC) 2005
Based on ISIC Rev. 4
Current base year: 2000
Profile of Manufacturing Industry
Trends in Economic Structure,
1960-2008
Million $
300,000
GDP at Current Market Prices
Manufacturing
Services Producing Industries
250,000
200,000
150,000
100,000
50,000
2008
2005
2002
1999
1996
1993
1990
1987
1984
1981
1978
1975
1972
1969
1966
1963
1960
0
GDP by Industry at Current Prices, 2008
2008
(S$ million)
Share of
GVA (%)
GDP at Current Market Prices
257,418.5
Goods Producing Industries
67,438.1
26.0
Manufacturing
50,275.2
19.4
Construction
13,255.8
5.1
3,729.2
1.4
177.9
0.1
Services Producing Industries
178,074.8
68.8
Wholesale & Retail Trade
44,347.7
17.1
Transport & Storage
23,317.5
9.0
Hotels & Restaurants
5,433.5
2.1
Information & Communications
9,612.7
3.7
Financial Services
33,789.4
13.1
Business Services
36,295.6
14.0
Other Services Industries
25,278.4
9.8
Ownership of Dwellings
13,373.3
5.2
Less: FISIM
16,730.1
Utilities
Other Goods Industries
Gross Value Added At Basic Prices
Add: Taxes on Products
242,156.1
15,262.4
Structure of Manufacturing Industry

Major economic sector

Change in structure over time
Manufacturing Clusters
Share of Nominal
Manufacturing VA (%)
1990
2008
100.0
100.0
Electronics
31.1
26.3
Chemicals
16.0
10.2
Biomedical Manufacturing
5.3
22.2
Precision Engineering
16.7
14.0
Transport Engineering
9.4
16.1
General Manufacturing Industries
21.4
11.2
Total Manufacturing
Quarterly and Annual VA
Compilation
Base Year
(reconciled)
VA
Index of
Industrial
Production
Quarterly
Constant
Price
VA
Annual
Constant
Price
VA
Singapore
Manufactured
Products Price
Index
Quarterly
Current
Price
VA
Annual
Current
Price
VA
Census of
Manufacturing
Activities
Benchmarked Annual
Current Price VA
Index of Industrial Production (IIP)

Monthly index of real manufacturing output

Main indicator of manufacturing
performance

Available about one month after reference
month
Index of Industrial Production (IIP)

Compiled based on a fixed basket of
industries, commodities and weight-pattern

Rebased about once every 3 - 4 years to
reflect the latest structure of Singapore’s
manufacturing sector


Current base year is 2007
Compiled by RSU in Economic Development
Board

Specialises in manufacturing statistics
Singapore Manufactured Products
Price Index (SMPPI)

Monthly price index measuring changes in
prices of goods produced by local
manufacturers

Available about one month after reference
month
Census of
Manufacturing Activities (CMA)

Annual current price VA estimates are
benchmarked against CMA

Preliminary principal statistics e.g. total
output, employment and VA are available 2
months after reference year

Breakdown of current price VA into output
and intermediate consumption can be
obtained from CMA
Improvements and Challenges

Rapidly changing structure of industry

Need for indicators to remain relevant



Frequent rebasing of IIP
Move towards annual chain-linking of IIP
Improving response rate of surveys by
increasing ease of response


Varied modes of submission via internet, fax etc
Allowing respondents to report in their home
currencies
Improvements and Challenges

Difficulties in measuring output for certain
industries


E.g. pharmaceuticals: lumpy production,
changes in product-mix result in volatility in
pharmaceutical output
Lack of suitable price deflators for some
industrial services e.g. ship-building, shiprepairing
Thank You