A sharp decline in the pharmaceutical output dragged Singapore's industrial production down in November.

The Economic Development Board said that country’s overall output contracted 8.2 per cent in November from the year ago period, while the month-on-month decline was 3.6 per cent. It was the steepest drop in the past eight months.

Analysts had been expecting an average increase of 3.3 per cent in output from the manufacturing sector.

The main culprit was Pharmaceuticals that reported a fall of 53 per cent in production in November. It may be noted here that Pharmaceuticals account for around 20 per cent of Singapore’s manufacturing sector.

On the brighter side, electronics and chemicals grew 18 per cent and 17 per cent respectively, trying to offset the decline to some extent.