Singapore among top 10 exporters of creative goods: Unctad study

Singapore

SINGAPORE came in 10th on a list of the world's 10 largest exporters of "creative goods", which are one of the fastest-growing sectors in the global economy.

The United Nations Conference of Trade and Development (Unctad), using figures from 2015 (the latest available), said the Republic shipped US$10 billion in goods under the categories of art and crafts, audio-visuals, design, digital fabrication, new media, the performing arts, publishing and the visual arts.

In 2005, Singapore's figure was US$2.1 billion.

China topped the 2015 list as the largest exporter of such goods, sending out shipments worth US$168 billion; it was followed by the United States (US$39 billion) and France (US$34 billion).

Apart from the US and France, four other developed economies made the top 10: Italy (fifth), United Kingdom (sixth), Germany (seventh) and Switzerland (ninth).

The Unctad study was titled "Creative Economy Outlook - Trends in International Trade in Creative Industries".

Although more developed economies occupied positions in the Top 10, developing economies on the whole - led by China - shipped more creative goods than the developed economies - US$265 billion against US$244 billion in 2015.

Asia accounted for US$228 billion of the total developing economies' shipments; China, Hong Kong, India, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia and Taiwan made the biggest contributions. Occupying four of the top 10 positions, Asian economies were, in fact, the only developing economies on the list.

The study said: "The domination of Asian economies is a clear indication of their important emerging role in stimulating and contributing to the global creative economy."

Unctad said the global market for creative goods more than doubled in value between 2002 and 2015 - going from US$208 billion to US$509 billion in that time.

The creative economy has made valuable contributions to the achievement of sustainable development goals, the study noted:

"Despite the difficult years during and after the 2008 financial crisis, the creative economy was robust, demonstrating resilience and, in some instances, growth, indicating it is a sector with considerate potential for current and future investment."

In the forward to the study, Unctad secretary-general Mukhisa Kituyi wrote of both the commercial and cultural value of the creative economy: "Whether it be art and crafts, books, film, paintings, festivals, songs, designs, digital animation or video games, the creative industries are more than just sectors with good economic growth performance and potential; they are expressions of the human imagination spreading important social and cultural values."

The Unctad study noted that design, fashion and film account for the lion's share in the global trade in creative goods: Design products such as fashion, interior design and jewellery made up 54 per cent of creative goods exports. Visual arts, including antiques, paintings and photography, totalled up to 17 per cent.

Seventy per cent of developing economies' creative goods exports are design products such as fashion and accessories, interior design, toys and jewellery. Art and crafts and new media together make up 20 per cent of the exports.

The study said Singapore is among the top 10 exporters of design products, shipping US$4.3 billion under this category in 2015 and cornering 2.31 per cent share of the market.

Shipments of design goods grew 16.7 per cent annually between 2003 and 2015, making the Republic the fifth largest exporter of design products among developing economies.

China (US$122.4 billion) is the biggest exporter, followed by Hong Kong (US$19.7 billion) and India (US$14.7 billion).

Singapore was the 10th largest exporter of visual arts, a sub-sector of design, shipping US$396 million worth of antiques, painting, sculpture, photography as well as engravings and carvings and ornaments in 2015.

"Singapore's visual art exports are growing at 12.64 per cent (yearly) and art events and art organisations have steadily increased in Singapore."

The largest exporter of visual arts is France (US$14.5 billion), followed by the US (US$11.7 billion), the UK (US$9.4 billion) and China (US$8.9 billion).

Singapore is also among the 10 largest exporters in publishing and printed media among developing economies. It exported US$624 million in publishing and printed media products in 2015 - a figure exceeded only by shipments out of China (US$3.2 billion) and Hong Kong (US$1.6 billion).