Singapore exports fall 8.5% in December

Singapore's non-oil domestic exports (NODX) fell in December last year, continuing the previous mont…

Singapore's non-oil domestic exports (NODX) fell in December last year, continuing the previous month's fall, with shipments to most of its top markets declining.

Exports fell 8.5 per cent year-on-year in December following the 2.8 percent decline in November, data from trade agency Enterprise Singapore showed on Thursday (Jan 17).

On a seasonally adjusted month-on-month basis, exports fell by 5.7 percent in December, following the previous month's 4.3 percent decline.
December saw a decline in both electronic and non-electronic exports.

Electronic exports declined by 11.2 percent year-on-year, after a 4.3 percent growth the previous month.
PCs, disk media products and diodes & transistors contracted by 20.5 percent, 28.5 percent and 34.4 percent respectively, contributing the most to the decline in electronic NODX.

Non-electronic exports declined by 7.4 percent year-on-year in December, following a 5.4 percent decrease in the previous month.

Specialised machinery (-32.5 percent), pharmaceuticals (-26.8 percent) and primary chemicals (-28.0 percent) contributed the most to this decline.

Overall, exports to the majority of Singapore's top 10 markets declined in December, except to the United States and China. The largest contributors to the NODX decrease were the EU (-28.7 percent), South Korea (-39.1 percent) and Malaysia (-15.5 percent).

Meanwhile, total trade in December rose 1.6 percent year-on-year, supported by import growth.