SINGAPORE: Singapore’s key shipments grew for the 16th straight month in March, though the rate of growth continued to cool amid uncertainties from the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
Non-oil domestic exports (Nodx) rose 7.7% year-on-year (y-o-y) last month, slowing from the revised 9.4% growth in February and 17.6% increase in January, according to data released by Enterprise Singapore (ESG) on yesterday.
March’s Nodx growth was nonetheless much above the 1.7% average estimate of analysts polled by Bloomberg.
Electronic Nodx grew 11.5% last month, slightly lower than the 11.6 % y-o-y rise in February.
Shipments were largely bolstered by growth in integrated circuits, disk drives and personal computers.
Non-electronic Nodx increased by 6.8% in March, cooling from the 8.8% growth the month before, with non-monetary gold, pharmaceuticals and measuring instruments the largest contributors to growth, according to the data.
On a month-on-month seasonally adjusted basis, Nodx dipped 2.3% in March, following the previous month’s 2.9% decline.
This was due to a drop in non-electronic exports, despite growth in electronic shipments.
Nodx reached S$17.2bil (RM53.73bil) in March, lower than the previous month’s S$17.6bil (RM54.99bil).
ESG said shipments to the top 10 markets as a whole rose last month, although exports to Hong Kong, South Korea and Thailand declined.
The largest contributors to the growth in Nodx were the United States (plus 68.1%), Malaysia (plus 29.1%) and the European Union (plus 16.8%).
Oil domestic exports rose 39.2% last month, moderating from the 62% growth in February.
This was driven by higher exports to Malaysia, Australia and Indonesia.
However, going by volume, such exports fell 19.1% after a 6.4% increase in February.
On the whole, total trade expanded 17.6% y-o-y in March, following the 20.9% expansion in February.
This was driven by a 13.9% growth in total exports, and a 21.9 rise in total imports. — The Straits Times/ANN