SINGAPORE: Singapore’s key non-oil exports fell less steeply than expected in October, as a surge in shipments of pharmaceutical drugs cushioned weakness in other sectors.
Exports of goods made in Singapore fell 0.5% in October compared with a year earlier after rising 0.3% in September, trade promotion agency International Enterprise Singapore said Tuesday. The median estimate of five economists in a poll by The Wall Street Journal was for October exports to contract 3.0% from a year earlier.
Compared with the previous month, exports rose 1.1% in seasonally adjusted terms after expanding 2.8% on month in September. The poll had projected a median 2.7% contraction in October.
The city-state’s shipments to the China, its biggest export destination, fell 8.7% in October from a year earlier, compared with a 12.9% on-year fall in the previous month, IE Singapore said. Exports to the European Union rose 1.0% on year after falling 2.1% in September. Exports to the U.S., however, fell 2.2% after the previous month’s 9.4% slide.
Electronics exports declined 3.2% on year, after rising 5.7% in September, while non-electronics shipments grew 0.7%, compared with a 1.9% fall in the previous month. In the non-electronics sector, pharmaceutical exports surged 44.6% on year, after growing 6.5% in September. Shipments of chemicals grew 10.2% on year, reversing a 10% contraction in September.
