Singapore's non-oil domestic exports down 5.4 percent in Q3 year-on-year

Singapore's non-oil domestic exports (NODX), a key gauge of the export performance of the economy, decreased by 5.4 percent in the third quarter of 2016 on a year-on-year basis, while non-oil re-exports (NORX) increased by 2.5 percent, said International Enterprise (IE) Singapore on Thursday.

The trade promotion agency said total merchandise trade declined by 5.0 percent in the third quarter year-on-year, following the 5.7 percent contraction in the previous quarter. The decrease of total merchandise in the quarter of 2016 can be attributed to the decline in both oil and non-oil trade.

Oil trade contracted by 20.2 percent in the third quarter of 2016, following the previous quarter's decrease of 24.9 percent. Non-oil trade declined by 1.2 percent in the third quarter, following the previous quarter's decrease of 0.5 percent.

IE Singapore said NODX contracted by 5.4 percent in the third quarter year-on-year, following the previous quarter's 0.2 percent decline. The decrease was attributed to the decrease in both electronic and non-electronic NODX.

NODX to all of the top NODX markets, except China's Hong Kong and South Korea, declined in the third quarter year-on-year. The biggest contributors to the NODX decrease in the quarter were China, Indonesia and the United States.

Specifically, NODX to China declined by 8.2 percent in the third quarter, following the previous quarter's decrease of 9.1 percent. NODX to Indonesia decreased by 15.9 percent, after the previous quarter's contraction of 16.3 percent. NODX to the United States decreased by 7.7 percent, in contrast to the 2.4 percent rise in the previous quarter.

IE Singapore said domestic exports of electronic products contracted by 8.6 percent in the third quarter, after the decline of 5.1 percent in the previous quarter. The decrease in electronic NODX can be attributed to lower domestic exports of PCs, ICs and parts of PCs.

While non-electronic NODX decreased by 3.9 percent in the third quarter, in contrast to the 1.8 percent increase in the previous quarter. The decline in non-electronic NODX can be attributed to lower domestic exports of petrochemicals, structures of ships and boats as well as civil engineering equipment parts.

On a year-on-year basis, NORX grew by 2.5 percent in the third quarter of 2016, in contrast to the 1.9 percent decrease in the previous quarter. The rise in NORX can be attributed to higher non-electronic NORX shipments which outweighed the decline in electronic NORX shipments.

Electronic NORX decreased by 1.6 percent in the third quarter, following the previous quarter's decline of 5.1 percent. The decrease in electronic NORX was due to lower re-exports of parts of PCs, disk drives parts of ICs.

While non-electronic NORX grew by 7.1 percent in the third quarter, following the previous quarter's rise of 1.6 percent. The expansion in non-electronic NORX was due to higher re-exports of non-electric engines and motors, copper and electrical circuit apparatus.

Singapore's total services trade increased by 0.1 percent to reach 97.7 billion Singapore dollars (68.1 billion U.S. dollars) in the third quarter, following the 2.3 percent rise in the preceding quarter.

Looking ahead, the 2016 forecast for NODX is downgraded to -5.5 to -5.0 percent, from -4.0 to -3.0 percent, due to the weaker-than-expected performance of electronic and non-electronic NODX in the third quarter. IE Singapore said the 2017 forecasts for NODX and total merchandise trade are at -1.0 to 1.0 percent and 4.0 to 6.0 percent respectively. Endit