Singapore’s industrial production unexpectedly rose at the slowest pace in nine months, heralding slower economic growth after a record expansion in the first half of the year.

Manufacturing, which accounts for about a quarter of the economy, climbed 8.1% in August from a year earlier, after a 9.9% gain in July, the Economic Development Board said in a statement today. The median estimate of 10 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News was for an 11.7% gain.

 

Overseas demand for goods by Asian manufacturers such as Singapore-based Hi-P International, whose customers include BlackBerry maker Research in Motion, may cool as the global recovery slows. The island’s economy, which expanded an unprecedented 17.9% in the first half of 2010, will moderate in the coming months, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said in August.

 

“Singapore’s reliance on global demand remains,” said Vishnu Varathan, an economist at Capital Economics (Asia) Pte in Singapore. “A bumpy recovery in the global economy could dampen strong upswings in manufacturing activity from here.”

 

The country’s non-oil domestic exports climbed 31.2% from a year earlier last month, after a revised 18.3% gain in July, a report showed Sept. 17. Still, manufacturing contracted for the first time in 16 months in August, according to the Singapore Institute of Purchasing & Materials Management’s purchasing managers’ index.

 

Growth in Europe’s services and manufacturing industries weakened more than economists forecast in September, adding to evidence the recovery in the region is losing steam, a report showed yesterday. Economic expansion in the U.S. and China has also slowed.

 

Industrial production fell a seasonally adjusted 6.3% in August from July, when it rose 1.5% from the previous month, today’s report showed.

 

Electronics production rose 32.8% from a year earlier after climbing 25.2% in July and 52.4% in June. Pharmaceutical output dropped 30.8%.