Singapore’s non-oil domestic exports (NODX) contracted for the eighth consecutive month in May, falling by 14.7 percent, with both electronics and non-electronics seeing a decline.
The drop follows the 9.8 percent decrease in April and an 8.3 percent contraction in March.
The latest figure is worse than a Reuters poll forecast of an 8.1 percent drop.
According to data released by Enterprise Singapore (EnterpriseSG) on Friday (Jun 16), electronic product exports contracted by 27.2 percent in May, following a 23.3 percent decline in the previous month.
Integrated circuits (ICs), disk media products, and parts of ICs contributed the most to the decline, falling by 39.2 percent, 41.6 percent, and 48.7 percent respectively.
Non-electronic exports also declined by 10.7 percent in May, following a 5.8 percent drop in April.
The biggest declines were in specialised machinery, petrochemicals, and pharmaceuticals – falling by 23.4 percent, 22.8 percent, and 14 percent respectively.
“NODX to the top markets as a whole declined in May 2023, though NODX to China and the US rose,” said EnterpriseSG.
NODX to the United States (4.8 percent) and China (3.7 percent) rose in May but declined for key markets Hong Kong (-41.2 percent), Malaysia (-26.2 percent), and Taiwan (-19.4 percent).
On a year-on-year basis, total trade declined by 17.9 percent in May, following the 18.9 percent contraction in the previous month.
Both exports and imports fell, by 15.2 percent and 20.7 percent respectively.
In April, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) left its monetary policy unchanged, pausing a series of tightening moves since October 2021 to tackle rising inflation.
The central bank flagged the risk of a “deeper than anticipated” slowdown in the Singapore economy amid higher risks to global growth.
Source: CNA
