Singapore's September non-oil exports continue falling streak with 8.1% drop

SINGAPORE'S non-oil domestic exports (NODX) continued to fall in September, mainly due to lower exports to Europe, the United States and Japan, but showed a slight improvement over August and the five months of double-digit declines before that.

NODX fell 8.1 per cent year on year last month, following a 9 per cent drop in August, Enterprise Singapore said on Thursday. Both electronics and non-electronics exports saw a decline.

Integrated circuits, personal computers and disk media products contracted by 30.2 per cent, 33.1 per cent and 12.2 per cent respectively, contributing the most to the decline in electronic NODX. For non-electronic NODX, pharmaceuticals, petrochemicals and jewellery contributed the most to the decline with a contraction of 26.7 per cent, 10.6 per cent and 52 per cent respectively.

On a month-on-month seasonally adjusted basis, NODX dropped 3.3 per cent in September, after an increase of 6.7 per cent in August.

The seasonally-adjusted level of NODX reached S$13.8 billion in September, down from S$14.2 billion in the previous month.

While NODX fell for most top markets in September, China and Taiwan were the exception.

Meanwhile, non-oil re-exports (NORX) increased by 3 per cent in September, following a 5.5 per cent decline in the previous month. Both electronics and non-electronics exports grew, Enterprise Singapore said. (see amendment note)

Overall, total trade decreased over the year, with both imports and exports falling. On a year-on-year basis, total trade decreased by 4.9 per cent in September, following the 8.6 per cent decline in the preceding month.

On a seasonally-adjusted basis, however, total trade went up marginally by 0.2 per cent in September, after the 1.8 per cent growth in August.

Amendment note: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that non-oil re-exports for electronics and non-electronics fell. They in fact grew. The article above has been revised to reflect this.