SINGAPORE: Singapore’s key non-oil domestic exports rose sharply in August due to an acceleration in the shipments of both electronics and non-electronics products. Exports of goods made in Singapore rose 17% in August compared with a year earlier, after a revised 7.6% gain in July, trade promotion agency International Enterprise Singapore said Monday. The median estimate of six economists in a poll by The Wall Street Journal was for August exports to expand 11% from a year earlier. Compared with the previous month, exports rose 4.5% in seasonally adjusted terms, after contracting 3.3% on month in July. Economists in the poll had projected a median 2.7% on month gain in August.
The city-state’s shipments to China, its biggest export destination, jumped 43.2% in August from a year earlier, compared with a 19.6% on-year gain in the previous month, IE Singapore said. Exports to the European Union gained 23% on year, recovering from a 25.3% fall in July. Exports to the U.S. grew a relatively tepid 3.9% after the previous month’s 5.9% decrease. Electronics exports rose 21.7% on year, after a 15.3% gain in July, while non-electronics shipments grew 15%, compared with a 4.4% rise in the previous month. In the non-electronics sector, pharmaceutical exports fell 9.1%, though moderating from a 53.6% decline in July.
