SINGAPORE's industrial output gained 2.7 per cent last month over the same period last year, mainly boosted by the transport engineering and general manufacturing clusters.

Excluding biomedical manufacturing, Singapore's output grew 3.6 per cent, the Economic Development Board (EDB) said on Monday.

Transport engineering output surged 13.9 per cent year-on-year last month. The marine and offshore engineering segment soared 19 per cent, due to brighter contributions from rig building and ship conversion projects.

General manufacturing output rose 5.4 per cent, as growth of the miscellaneous industries segment (13 per cent) more than offset declines in the food, beverages & tobacco (-1.2 per cent) and printing (-2.7 per cent) segments.

Electronics production rose 3.5 per cent, with growth buoyed by higher export demand in the other electronic modules & components, computer peripherals and semiconductors segments.

But biomedical manufacturing output dipped 1.3 per cent, as robust growth in the medical technology segment of 16.3 per cent was more than offset by weak pharmaceuticals output which slumped 4.4 per cent.

Precision engineering output declined 7.4 per cent, while the chemicals cluster's output dropped 0.3 per cent.