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Mass production shifts to Malaysia as R&D and quality control stay put.<\/strong><\/p>\n Singapore’s food and beverage (F&B) manufacturing sector is keeping research, product development, and quality control at home even as more manufacturers move production to neighbouring countries to lower costs and improve supply chain resilience.<\/p>\n Ben Charoenwong, an associate professor of finance at INSEAD, said the changes represent a reorganisation of the value chain rather than a decline in Singapore’s manufacturing base.<\/p>\n \u201cThat’s value-chain fragmentation; this is what gave us huge economic gains from trade in the globalisation era,\u201d he told Singapore Business Review<\/strong><\/em>.<\/p>\n Labour- and space-intensive production is moving overseas, whilst headquarters, branding, research and development, and quality control remain in Singapore.<\/p>\n Recent moves illustrate the shift. Asia Pacific Breweries (Singapore) Pte. Ltd. is transferring production to facilities in Malaysia and Vietnam<\/a> under an import-based supply model.<\/p>\n Yeo Hiap Seng Ltd. has consolidated can manufacturing in Malaysia<\/a>, whilst QAF Ltd. said its Gardenia bakery business would move production to Johor Bahru<\/a>, with its Pandan Loop factory closing on 30 June.<\/p>\n Le Jia Chong, CEO at FoodPlant Pte. Ltd., said manufacturers are responding to structural cost differences, market proximity, and the need for more resilient supply chains.<\/p>\n \u201cHigh-volume manufacturing may be regionalised, but higher-value activities \u2014 product development, process design, and quality systems \u2014 continue to be anchored here,\u201d she said in an emailed reply to questions.<\/p>\n Hugo Texier, a partner at Roland Berger Pte. Ltd., said Malaysia offers lower labour costs and more affordable industrial land, making it easier for manufacturers to expand production.<\/p>\n Singapore also faces structural challenges. Charoenwong said shorter industrial lease terms could discourage companies from making long-term automation investments because they face uncertainty over future rental costs.<\/p>\n Labour costs further widen the gap. Data from the Ministry of Manpower showed median monthly manufacturing wages reached $5,850 in 2024, compared with $788 (RM2,490) in Malaysia, according to the Department of Statistics Malaysia.<\/p>\n Texier expects more manufacturers to adopt dual-hub models over the next five years, keeping research, quality control, and commercial functions in Singapore whilst locating large-scale production elsewhere in the region.<\/p>\n Chong said Singapore’s competitive advantage would increasingly lie in innovation, advanced food manufacturing, and technical expertise rather than mass production.<\/p>\n \u201cCompanies that manage this balance well \u2014 retaining control of capability while optimising production \u2014 will be best positioned for the next phase of growth,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Mass production shifts to Malaysia as R&D and quality control stay put. Singapore’s food and beverage (F&B) manufacturing sector is keeping research, product development, and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":67521,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2611],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-67520","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-buzz-headlines","wpcat-2611-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67520","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=67520"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67520\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/67521"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=67520"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=67520"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=67520"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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