Singapore exports up 15.9% in June on year-ago low base, with boost from semicon, petrochem demand

KEY Singapore exports expanded for the seventh straight month in June, buoyed by specialised machinery and petrochemicals, as well as a year-ago low base.

Non-oil domestic exports (NODX) jumped by 15.9 per cent year on year, handily beating the median 8 per cent forecast in a Bloomberg poll.

Electronics NODX added 25.5 per cent, while non-electronics NODX expanded by 13.2 per cent, according to figures from trade agency Enterprise Singapore (ESG) on Friday.

The latest growth was a pickup from the expansion of 8.6 per cent charted in May.

The improvement came on the back of higher exports of personal computers, integrated circuits, and diodes and transistors, in the electronics cluster.

Non-electronics shipments, meanwhile, were fuelled by specialised machinery, which ESG said rose "in line with robust global semiconductor demand", as well as petrochemicals, which was on the upswing after a global down-cycle in previous years.

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On a seasonally adjusted, monthly basis, NODX was up 6 per cent to S$16.3 billion, after slipping by 0.2 per cent in the month before.

NODX rose year on year to seven of the Republic's top 10 markets, thanks to strong export demand from mainland China, Taiwan, and the European Union. That's even as exports to Malaysia, Japan and the United States fell year on year in June.

Both the Chinese market and the EU were destinations for specialised machinery and pharmaceuticals. China also took in petrochemicals, and the EU, primary chemicals.

Meanwhile, NODX to Taiwan was lifted by shipments of integrated circuits, measuring instruments, and petrochemicals.

Meanwhile, NODX to emerging markets grew by 68.2 per cent year on year, driven by the Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam region, South Asia, and the Caribbean.

Overall, total trade rose by 25 per cent year on year in June, compared with 30.9 per cent in May, with increases in both exports and imports.

ESG attributed the expansion to trade in both oil, where prices were up year on year, and electronics, which saw "strong global semiconductor demand".

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