SINGAPORE: Singapore’s key non-oil domestic exports fell in April, broadly as expected with both electronics and non- electronics shipments continuing to drag.
Exports of goods made in Singapore fell 7.9% in April compared with a year earlier, after falling 15.7% in March, trade promotion agency International Enterprise Singapore said on Tuesday.
Compared with the previous month, exports rose 4.5% in seasonally adjusted terms, after expanding a tepid 0.1% on month in March. Economists in the poll had projected a median 5.5% rise in April.
The city-state’s shipments to China, its biggest export destination, fell 7.4% in April from a year earlier, compared with a 14.0% on-year fall in the previous month, IE Singapore said.
Exports to the European Union rose 20.6% on year after falling 39.1% in March. Exports to the U.S. fell 7.0% after the previous month’s 6.2% decrease.
Electronics exports declined 7.4% on year, after falling 9.1% in March, while non-electronics shipments fell 8.1%, compared with a 18.0% fall in the previous month.
In the non-electronics sector, the highly volatile pharmaceutical exports rose 17.9%, reversing a 30.9% fall in March.
Production and exports in Singapore’s pharmaceutical industry often swings wildly as the sector is dominated by a small number of very large manufacturing units. A batch of expensive cancer medicine, for example, can cause a surge in the value of pharmaceutical production, while long periods of maintenance shutdowns can plunge output.
