NEWS RELEASE

For Immediate Release

Performance of JTC’s Industrial Facilities in 2007 - Another Record Breaking Year for JTC’s Ready-Built Facilities and Prepared Industrial Land  

Singapore, 31 January 2008: As a result of strong economic growth and a buoyant industrial space market[1] in 2007, JTC’s net take-up for Ready-Built facilities reached a new record high of 214,700 sqm in 2007.  This surpasses the previous record of 179,600 sqm set in 2005.  Similarly, a new high was also set for Prepared Industrial Land with a net take-up of 341 ha in 2007.

2.         The achievement in the Ready-Built facilities segment was due primarily to increases in net allocation for Flatted, Stack-up and Standard Factory space. The overall occupancy for Ready-Built Facilities rose by 4.9 % from 87.8% in 2006 to 92.7% in 2007. Gross allocation of Ready-Built facilities rose by 42%, from 281,000 sqm in 2006 to 399,900 sqm in 2007. However, 2007 also saw termination level increased by 14% to 185,200 sqm, compared to a year ago.

3.         The robust net allocation for Prepared Industrial Land was due mainly to exceptionally strong gross allocation of 450.5 ha, an increase of  42% compared to 2006 figures. As a result, occupancy rate for Prepared Industrial Land reached 89%. The bulk of the increase in net allocation came from Specialised Parks (250.2 ha out of a total of 342 ha, or 73%). There was significant growth in net allocations for Jurong Island (156.3 ha) and Wafer Fab Park (41.6 ha).  The Chemical sector made up 50% of the total gross allocation of Prepared Industrial Land for 2007. Manufacturing related and supporting sectors (eg. Logistics and Services) contributed 13% and 12% respectively to total gross allocation figures.

4.         Key performance highlights of Ready-Built Facilities     

a.         Flatted Factory Space (FF Space)     Demand for FF space rose 11% year-on-year, to reach 1.2 mil sqm in 2007. Supply remained unchanged at 1.417 mil sqm. Occupancy thus rose by 8% to 84.8% in 2007, as compared to 2006.  There was a 5-fold increase in FF space’s net take-up, to 116,400 sqm compared to the 21,600 sqm in 2006. Gross allocation increased 94% year-on-year from 123,200 sqm in 2006 to 239,200 sqm in 2007, while termination remained stable at 122,700 sqm. 

Allocations were evenly spread across the various manufacturing related and supporting sectors. The top three industries of the manufacturing sector by take-up rate for FF space in 2007 were: General Manufacturing industries (18%), Precision Engineering (16%) and Electronics (8%).  82% of total allocations were to local companies. In the case of terminations of FF space in 2007, 38% were from the Services sector, with the spread out across the various manufacturing sectors.  The main reasons for termination in 2007 were consolidation of operations and poor business, which are similar to those in 2006. 

b.         Technopreneur Space (TP Space)     Backed by strong demand, occupancy of TP space rose 18.6% year-on-year to 85% in 2007. Demand for TP space saw a 28% increase from the previous year, to 12,800 sqm in 2007. Gross allocation was healthy at 5,300 sqm.  

c.         Business Park Space (BP Space)      Occupancy rate for BP space rose 2.2% to 93.4% in 2007, with demand increasing against a backdrop of stable supply.   Gross allocation stood at 20,300 sqm, while termination increased to 13,900 sqm, resulting in net allocation of 6,300 sqm,  

d.         Standard Factory (SF Space)            Occupancy levels for the land-based ready-built segment reached 98% in 2007. Gross allocation of 60,700 sqm was 18.5% lower than 2006.  This was due to the limited remaining stock of standard factories available for allocation. Termination fell by about 50% year-on-year to 16,900 sqm. The resulting high net allocation of 43,800 sqm pushed total demand up to 2.39 mil sqm.   

e.         Stack-up Factory (SS Space)            Occupancy rate of SS space increased 16.5% to 87.3 % in 2007, due to a rise in demand as supply remained unchanged.   Gross allocation for SS space grew by 44%, to 74,500 sqm in 2007, while termination stood at 29,200 sqm, resulting in net allocation of 45,400 sqm (a 45% increase over the previous year). 

5.         Highlights of Prepared Industrial Land (PIL)’s performance

a.         Generic Land             The generic land segment achieved strong net allocation of 90.8 ha in 2007.  This is 17% lower than 2006’s peak of 109.6 ha. Nonetheless, 2007 represented the fifth consecutive year of positive expansion for this segment of industrial space. A slight dip in the gross allocation to 114.4 ha was registered in 2007, while termination increased to 23.5 ha.

b.         Specialised Parks       Specialised Parks remained the key contributor to the total net allocation of Prepared Industrial Land. It accounted for 250.2 ha or 73% of land allocated.  Net allocation for specialised parks increased by 57% compared to 2006’s figure of 158.9 ha. This was due to a 73% increase in gross allocation to 336.2 ha in 2007, despite higher terminations of 86 ha. The bulk of gross allocations came from the Chemical sector (225.4 ha), as well as, the Semiconductors sector (with 57.8 ha allocated in the Wafer Fab Parks).

Full Industrial Facilities Performance Report

6.         The full Industrial Facilities Report for 4Q 2007 can be downloaded from the JTC website at www.jtc.gov.sg. It is also available from JTC's Corporate Research and Knowledge Management Department through Mr Kelvin Yip (Tel: 6883-3017 / Fax: 6885-5882 / Email: chunfai @jtc.gov.sg).