Singapore export growth seen slowing in Nov, tech sales cooling: poll

[SINGAPORE] Exports growth in Singapore is expected to have slowed sharply last month from October's double-digit pace, a Reuters poll found on Friday, dragged by a high base effect from a year ago and a tapering in sales of electronics.

Non-oil domestic exports in November were forecast to have risen 5.5 per cent from a year earlier, according to the median in the survey of 10 economists, cooling off a 20.9 per cent surge the month before.

External demand remains robust, though the headline numbers are expected to show a less dramatic increase in part because of last year's high base.

On a month-on-month and seasonally adjusted basis, non-oil domestic exports were seen up 0.6 per cent, the poll found, compared with a 12.5 per cent rise in October.

The annual jump in October was the biggest in 2-1/2-years, thanks to extended strength in global demand.

The exports boom has benefited Singapore and other trade-dependent Asian economies, particularly for electronics products and components such as semiconductors.

However, electronics exports grew modestly at 4.5 per cent in October.

With the exception of a "one-off blip" in September when it contracted a revised 8 per cent, exports of electronics grew at a double-digit pace for most of this year.

"Even as overall electronic exports have softened, demand for integrated circuits, disk media and PCs remains strong," Moody's said in a research note to its clients.

"Although external demand is likely to remain firm, a high base from a year earlier is likely to inhibit export growth in coming months," it said.

REUTERS