Singapore's key exports fall by 20.2%; 10th consecutive month of decline
A container vessel docks at Pasir Panjang port terminal in Singapore on Mar 9, 2022. (Photo: AFP/Roslan Rahman)
SINGAPORE: Singapore's non-oil domestic exports (NODX) contracted for the 10th consecutive month in July, falling by 20.2 per cent, with both electronics and non-electronics seeing a decline.
The drop follows a 15.6 per cent decrease in June and a 14.7 per cent contraction in May.
The latest figure is worse than a Reuters poll forecast of a 14.4 per cent drop.
According to data released by Enterprise Singapore (EnterpriseSG) on Thursday (Aug 17), electronic product exports contracted by 26.1 per cent in July, following a 16 per cent decline in the previous month.Â
Integrated circuits (ICs), PCs and disk media products contributed the most to the decline, falling by 35.7 per cent, 46.1 per cent and 40.8 per cent respectively.
Non-electronic exports also declined by 18.5 per cent in July, following a 15.6 per cent drop in June.
The biggest declines were in non-monetary gold, specialised machinery and petrochemicals, falling by 80.3 per cent, 17.2 per cent and 22.8 per cent respectively.
"NODX to the top markets as a whole declined in July 2023, though NODX to the United States rose," said EnterpriseSG.
NODX to the US (34.4 per cent) rose in July but declined for key markets like the European Union (-38.6 per cent), Taiwan (-36 per cent) and China (-20.1 per cent).
The lower prices of Chinese goods and "weaker China demand are dampening hopes of a more robust export recovery", said Maybank economist Chua Hak Bin.
"We are not yet out of the woods. The recovery in exports and manufacturing is fragile and uncertain," he added.
On a year-on-year basis, total trade declined by 20.8 per cent in July, following the 19.3 per cent contraction in the previous month.Â
Both exports and imports fell, by 18.4 per cent and 23.4 per cent respectively.
Last week, Singapore trimmed its growth forecast for 2023. It narrowly averted a technical recession in the second quarter when gross domestic product (GDP) expanded a seasonally-adjusted 0.1 per cent on a quarter-on-quarter basis.
The trade ministry narrowed its GDP growth forecast to 0.5 per cent to 1.5 per cent this year from 0.5 per cent to 2.5 per cent previously.
