Singapore’s April exports fall 9.8%, steeper than forecast

SINGAPORE  –Singapore‘s non-oil domestic exports fell 9.8 percent in April from the same month a year earlier, data on Wednesday showed, weighed down by declines in both electronic and non-electronic products.

Last month’s decline compared with a Reuters poll forecast of a 9.4- percent drop, and extended the 8.3- percent contraction seen in March.

On a month-on-month seasonally adjusted basis, non-oil domestic exports rose 2.7 percent in April, following March’s 18.4 percent growth. This was higher than analysts’ predictions for a 3- percent decline.

OCBC economist Selena Ling said trade was still showing weak momentum.

“The anticipated recovery for electronics in the second half of 2023 still looks elusive. In fact, the deep year-on-year contraction in integrated circuits, PCs, disk media et cetera, imply that demand conditions may still be searching for a trough. Even the pharmaceutical export surge is insufficient to offset the electronics slump,” said Ling.

Non-domestic oil exports to Singapore‘s top 10 markets in April declined as a whole.

Exports to China fell 20.9 percent on lower shipments of petrochemicals, pharmaceuticals and integrated circuits, while exports to Malaysia declined 35% after drops in shipments of integrated circuits, primary chemicals and specialized machinery