SINGAPORE’S non-oil domestic exports (NODX) growth in August was flat after a 10.6 per cent year-on-year drop in July, according to the latest trade figures released by International Enterprise Singapore on Friday.
Advertisement
The trade promotion agency said electronic NODX declined by 6.0 percent in August year-on-year, following the 12.9 percent contraction in the previous month.
IE Singapore said NODX to the majority of top 10 markets rose in August, except the European Union 28, China, Japan and Indonesia.
In the non-electronics sector, the highly volatile pharmaceutical exports fell 17.9%, after growing 12.7% in the previous month.
The decline was largely due to a fall in the export of personal computers, disk drives and integrated circuits.
Exports to the United States grew 4.8 per cent in August on-year, compared to a 19.1 per cent decrease in July. The largest contributors to the increase in NODX were China’s Taiwan, China’s Hong Kong and the United States.
The August data can be considered an improvement, but sustainability is an issue as the month-on- month data is still declining, said Dr Tan Khay Boon, senior lecturer at SIM Global Education.
The expansion was led by the export of non-electric engines & motors, specialised machinery and structural parts made of iron, steel & aluminium.
It was partially offset by non-electronic products, which saw an increase of 2.7%, rebounding from a 9.5% contraction in July.
On the month exports fell 1.9% in August although, again, the markets had been looking for worse.
UOB economist Francis Tan noted that Nodx appeared to be recovering, as “the trough of the current period of weakness was from October 2015 to January this year, and it had been improving since”.
Advertisement
While that was better than the median forecast of a 4.1 per cent slump in a Reuters poll and a 10.6 per cent loss in July, the overall picture was one of slack offshore demand.
