Singapore non-oil domestic exports continue decline in Dec

SINGAPORE'S non-oil domestic exports (NODX) declined by 7.2 per cent year-on-year in December 2015 to S$12.85 billion, after the 3.4 per cent decrease in the previous month, due to a contraction in both the electronic and non-electronic segments.

Total trade contracted by 8.4 per cent year-on-year in December to S$71.54 billion compared with a year ago following the 6.8 per cent decline in the previous month. Total exports fell by 6.4 per cent in December to S$38.35 billion, following the 7.6 per cent contraction in the previous month.

According to IE Singapore on Monday, electronic NODX declined by 0.3 per cent in December, in contrast to the 0.6 per cent growth in the previous month. The contraction was largely due to integrated circuits (-11.3 per cent), parts of personal computers (-13.0 per cent) and disk drives (-22.0 per cent).

Non-electronic NODX contracted by 10.3 per cent in December following the 5.1 per cent decline in the previous month. The drop was by petrochemicals (-17.5 per cent), primary chemicals (-41.8 per cent) and civil engineering equipment parts (-43.5 per cent).

NODX to all of the top 10 NODX markets, except the US, Japan and Hong Kong, contracted in December 2015. The top contributors to the NODX decline in December 2015 were China, South Korea and Taiwan.

NODX to China declined by 18.7 per cent in December 2015, following the previous month's decrease of 9.1 per cent, led by petrochemicals (-34.6 per cent), primary chemicals (-59.6 per cent) and civil engineering equipment parts (-84.9 per cent).

NODX to South Korea contracted by 25.8 per cent in December 2015, compared to the 0.5 per cent growth in the preceding month, due to specialised machinery (-71.4 per cent), PCs (-54.6 per cent) and medical apparatus (-94.7 per cent).

NODX to Taiwan decreased by 17.1 per cent in December 2015, after the 3.7 per cent contraction in the preceding month, due to ICs (-40.8 per cent), measuring instruments (-57.2 per cent) and petrochemicals (-27.7 per cent).

NODX to emerging markets contracted by 10.0 per cent in December, led by Latin America (-67.4 per cent), the Middle East (-16.8 per cent) and the Caribbean (-69.9 per cent).