Singapore August exports seen down for 3rd month: poll

[SINGAPORE] Singapore's exports are expected to have slumped for a third straight month on persistent softness in global demand, a Reuters poll showed, but the pace of contraction may have eased on tentative signs of stabilisation in the Chinese economy.

Non-oil domestic exports were predicted to slide 4.1 per cent in August from a year earlier, according to the median forecast in a Reuters survey of 13 economists.

In July, overseas sales fell 10.6 per cent, far more than expected, as shipments to China - the city state's biggest export market - and the United States declined.

On a month-on-month, seasonally adjusted basis, non-oil domestic exports in August were seen down 2.9 per cent. That compared with a 1.8 per cent loss in July.

Activity in Singapore factories contracted again in August but by less than in the previous month while the electronics sector expanded for the first time in 14 months, a survey showed earlier this month.

REUTERS