Singapore’s non-oil domestic exports (NODX) remained in the red in November, following a slowdown in both non-electronics and electronics shipments.
Official figures released by trade agency Enterprise Singapore (ESG) on Dec 17 showed that NODX was down 4.9% year-on-year, deepening from the 3.1% contraction registered the month before.
November’s showing is worse than the 0.3% growth estimated by private-sector economists in a Bloomberg poll.
The decline was led by a 5.2% shrinkage in non-electronic shipments, worse than the 4.0% slip posted by the segment in October.
This follows declines petrochemicals (-18.5%), non-monetary gold (-15.1%) and pharmaceuticals (-13.4%), ESG notes.
Meanwhile, shipments from linchpin electronics sector was down 3.8%, a further drop from the 0.5% decline in the previous month.
The bulk of this decline was led by a 7.9% plummet in the shipment of ICs which contracted by a steep 37% in November 2019 amid the global electronics downcycle, ESG explains.
Declines in the shipments of disk media products (-9.7%) and parts of PCs (-12.1%) similarly weighed down the performance of the segment.
On a month-on-month seasonally adjusted basis, NODX surprisingly rose by 3.8% - a significant reversal from the previous month’s 5.4% plunge. This comes from growth in both electronic and non-electronic exports, according to ESG.
These developments translated to $13.6 billion in takings for November’s NODX, down from $13.1 billion in October.
SEE: Growth in Singapore's non-oil domestic exports slows to 6% in July
In this time, Singapore’s NODX to its top 10 markets declined “as a whole” in November, with exports to the EU 27 (-24.6%), China (-18.5%) and Indonesia (-10.9%) taking the worst hit.
The decline in shipments to the EU 27 is a reversal from the 0.8% expansion registered in the previous month and follows a contraction in the shipments of food preparation (-96.3%), electrical machinery (-53.0%) and pharmaceuticals (-50.2%).
Similarly, the shrinkage in exports to China is a deviation from the previous month’s 5% expansion and is the result of declines in the export of non-monetary gold (-98.2%), petrochemicals (-25.5%) and ICs (-17.9%).
Conversely, the decline posted by Indonesia, is an extension of the previous month’s 10.7% contraction and is the result of lower shipments of petrochemicals (-31.6%), other specialty chemicals (-45.2%) and non-electric engines & motors (-99.3%).
Interestingly, NODX to other countries in the top markets gained, with shipments to Japan (+12.9%), US (+9.9%) and Taiwan (+8.7%), leading the way.
Meanwhile, Singapore’s non-oil re-exports (NORX) was up by 2.4%, narrowing marginally from the 2.4% increase it posted from the previous month. This comes as the growth in electronic re-exports outweighed the decline in that for non-electronics, ESG says.
Electronic re-exports were up 20.1% year-on-year, due to higher shipments of parts of PCs (+44.7%), diodes & transistors (+39.43%) and ICs (+28.5%).
This increase helped mitigate the 13.7% contraction in non-electronic re-exports which was affected by declines in piston engines (-62.5%), non-electric engines and motors (-33.8%) and aircraft parts (-33.6%).
On a seasonally adjusted month-on-month basis, NORX grew by 3.8% - a significant reversal from the previous month’s 0.3% shrinkage. This equates to $24.9 billion in takings, lower than the $24.0 billion in October.
NORX shipments to the top 10 markets grew, with the key contributors being China (+35.5%), the EU 27 (+12.2%) and Hong Kong (+9.9%).
Total trade for November was down 8.7%, improving marginally the previous month’s 9.0% decline. In this time, total exports were down 8.0% - from 8.7% in October, while total imports contracted by 9.4% - from 9.3% in the month before.
On a month-on-month seasonally adjusted basis, total trade expanded by 3.7%, up from October’s 3.4%. With this, total trade reached $80.0 billion in November, higher than October’s $77.2 billion.
