SINGAPORE’S key exports fell by 4.6 per cent year on year in October, coming in worse than what the authorities were expecting, as non-electronic shipments decreased sharply, data from Enterprise Singapore (EnterpriseSG) showed on Monday (Nov 18).
September’s non-oil domestic exports (NODX) has also been revised by a fairly large extent to just 0.9 per cent year-on-year growth.
EnterpriseSG noted that it was expecting NODX to come in below the “4 to 5 per cent forecast range” for the year owing to a weaker-than-expected recovery in the second half of 2024.
NODX performance was in negative territory for a large part of H1, and returned to positive growth in July. It then declined for the next three months.
On a seasonally adjusted monthly basis, NODX fell by 7.4 per cent in October, extending the 0.6 per cent decrease in the previous month, to a value of S$13.6 billion.
Electronic shipments grew by 2.6 per cent year on year in October, reversing from the 0.7 per cent decline in the previous month. This was helped mainly by integrated circuits and disk media products, said EnterpriseSG.
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However, non-electronic exports declined by 6.7 per cent year on year last month, undoing the 1.4 per cent increase in September. Specialised machinery, pharmaceuticals and petrochemicals contributed the most to this decline, said the agency.
Exports to Singapore’s top 10 markets declined as a whole in October, even though half of these markets recorded positive growth.
Shipments to China contracted by the largest extent at 22.3 per cent year on year, after a small trickle of growth in September.
This was followed by the eurozone at -21.4 per cent year on year, and Japan at -23 per cent on the year.
Exports to Taiwan grew by 20.4 per cent year on year, further improving from September’s 6.8 per cent.
Overall, total trade decreased by 2 per cent year on year in October, after a 0.4 per cent increase in the previous month.
Sequentially, total trade shrank by 1.8 per cent in October, compared with 0.6 per cent growth previously, with the level at S$102.2 billion.
