Singapore’s key exports dipped 0.1% in May, mildest in 20 months

SINGAPORE – Singapore’s non-oil domestic exports (Nodx) performed better than expected in May, dipping 0.1 percent after shrinking a revised 9.6 percent in April.

This marks the fourth straight month of contraction, but it was the mildest decline in 20 months, trade agency Enterprise Singapore (EnterpriseSG) said on June 18.

It also beat the 1 percent drop forecast by analysts in a Reuters poll.

Electronic exports posted the first double-digit growth in 22 months. They grew 21.9 percent year on year in May, extending the 3.3 percent increase in April.

The growth in electronic Nodx was driven by integrated circuits (ICs), also referred to as chips or semiconductors.

Year on year, ICs expanded by 35.8 percent to $1.9 billion.

ICs – which make up about half of electronics exports – are a vital component of various electronic devices.

Shipments of disk media products and personal computers (PCs) also contributed to the growth in electronic Nodx.

Exports of disk media products jumped 92 percent from a year ago to $571.5 million, while PCs grew 27.2 percent to $286.9 million.

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The pace of decline eased for non-electronics, which shrank 6 percent in May from the previous year. This follows a 12.6 percent contraction in April.

The decline in non-electronic Nodx was driven by non-monetary gold, which contracted by 47.2 percent from a high base a year ago.

Pharmaceutical shipments fell by 37.5 percent while electrical circuit apparatus declined by 21.8 percent.

Major markets

On a month-on-month seasonally adjusted basis, which removes the effects of seasonal variations in the numbers, Nodx declined 0.1 percent in May, after a revised 7.3 percent increase in April.

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In value terms, May Nodx came to $13.9 billion, similar to the previous month’s $13.9 billion but lower than the year-ago level of $14 billion and 2023’s average of $14.5 billion.

By markets, shipments to Singapore’s top 10 markets as a whole grew in May.

Notably, shipments to the United States recovered from April’s fall to expand 12.1 percent.

However, shipments to China slipped into the red, falling 22.1 percent.

Singapore’s exports to the European Union also remained weak, falling another 8.7 percent in May, and shipments to Japan reversed April’s gains to contract 12.7 percent.

Year on year, total trade expanded 14.2 percent in May to $108.3 billion, following the 15.6 percent growth in April.

EnterpriseSG said in May that Singapore now expects growth in key exports to come in at the lower end of the range of 4 percent to 6 percent growth forecast in 2024.

This followed a disappointing start to the year when Nodx fell 3.4 percent to around $42 billion in the first quarter of 2024.