SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Singapore's industrial production in April is forecast to have contracted from a year earlier, a Reuters poll showed, underscoring the headwinds the manufacturing sector faces from sluggish global demand.
The median forecast in the survey of 13 economists was for industrial output to fall 0.3 percent in April year-on-year, after declining 0.5 percent in March.
On a month-on-month and seasonally adjusted basis, manufacturing output is seen rising 0.8 percent, the Reuters poll showed.
The April industrial production data is due on Thursday, May 26 at 1 p.m. local time (0500 GMT).
Data released last week showed that Singapore's non-oil domestic exports fell sharply in April from a year earlier, reinforcing the weak outlook for the trade-reliant economy.
On top of pressure faced by exporters from slack global demand, Singapore's manufacturing sector has also taken a hit from a slide in global oil prices seen over the past two years.
That has depressed demand for oil rigs built by the city-state's rig-building industry. Marine and offshore engineering output has slid nearly 30 percent in the first three months of 2016 compared to the same period a year earlier.