SINGAPORE: Non-oil domestic exports (NODX) in Singapore contracted 3 per cent in the third quarter of 2015, reversing the 2.1 per cent growth in the preceding quarter, International Enterprise (IE) Singapore said on Wednesday (Nov 25).
Domestic exports of electronic products expanded by 1.8 per cent in the quarter, following the flat growth in the previous quarter. The growth can be attributed to higher domestic exports of PCs (46.9 per cent), integrated circuits (6.2 per cent) and telecommunications equipment (72.1 per cent), the trade promotion agency said.
Non-electronic exports decreased by 4.9 per cent, after growing 2.9 per cent in the previous quarter. The contraction was attributed to lower domestic exports of petrochemicals (-18.6 per cent), printed matter (-23 per cent) and primary chemicals (-22.8 per cent).
Non-oil re-exports (NORX) increased by 2.1 per cent after a 1.5 per cent decrease in the previous quarter, due to higher shipments of electronic NORX that outweighed the decrease in non-electronic NORX, IE Singapore said.
Total merchandise trade fell 8.5 per cent in the third quarter, following the previous quarter’s 10.7 per cent decline. Total services trade expanded by 1.9 per cent to hit S$90.8 billion, following the 2.3 per cent increase in the previous quarter.
IE Singapore said it is lowering its total trade growth forecast for 2015 to between -10.5 and -10.0 per cent, down from earlier forecasts of -5 to -7 per cent and -9.5 to -10.5 per cent. Export growth is expected to come in at 0.5 to 1 per cent, down from the 1 to 2 per cent forecast in August and the initial 1 to 3 per cent forecast previously.
For the third quarter, while NODX to Hong Kong, Thailand and Japan increased year-on-year, NODX to all the rest of the top markets contracted. The biggest contributors to the contraction were China, Taiwan and the EU28.
Specifically, NODX to China decreased by 7.7 per cent in the third quarter, in contrast to the previous quarter’s expansion of 0.5 per cent. NODX to Taiwan declined by 10.2 per cent in the same quarter, following the previous quarter’s contraction of 9.5 per cent, while NODX to the EU 28 decreased by 4.3 per cent, compared to the 3.2 per cent expansion the preceding quarter, it said.
