Singapore's non-oil domestic exports up marginally in October

NON-OIL domestic exports last month were a tad higher than in September but they dipped 1.5% from a year ago. And the outlook doesn't look good, with leading indicator - non-oil retained imports of intermediate goods - falling from the previous month.

Even non-oil re-exports, which have been putting on a comparatively stronger showing, fell 5.4 per cent year on year following a 4.2% rise in September, according to the latest trade data released on Monday morning by government trade promotion agency International Enterprise Singapore.

Non-oil retained imports in October slipped S$0.6 billion from S$3.7 billion in September.

The NODX inched up a seasonally-adjusted 1.1% in October from the previous month, reversing the 8.8% drop in September. But year on year, the decline came after a 0.9% rise.

The electronic NODX extended its decline from 4.0% in September to 3.6% last month. Non-electronic NODX, which rose 3.0% in the previous month, slipped 0.5% in October.

Domestic shipments to four of the 10 major markets fell last month, except for Thailand, South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, the EU and China. Hong Kong, Indonesia and Malaysia were the biggest contributors to last month's NODX's decline.