SINGAPORE’S key exports posted a deeper year-on-year decline in June, due mainly to fluctuations in the shipments of volatile products such as non-monetary gold and electronics, data from Enterprise Singapore showed on Wednesday (Jul 17).
Non-oil domestic exports (NODX) shrank 8.7 per cent year on year last month, extending the revised 0.7 per cent contraction in May. Both electronic and non-electronic shipments fell.
On a seasonally adjusted monthly basis, NODX dipped by just 0.4 per cent in June to S$13.8 billion, easing slightly from the 0.7 per cent drop in the previous month.
Electronic exports fell 9.5 per cent year on year in June, swinging from the 19.6 per cent expansion in the previous month. This was attributed to telecommunications equipment, disk media products and integrated circuits.
Non-electronic shipments slid 8.5 per cent year on year in the same period, faring worse than the 6.1 per cent decrease in May. This was largely because exports of non-monetary gold tumbled 51.1 per cent, equivalent to a value of about S$600 million.
NODX to Singapore’s top markets as a whole declined in June, with the exception of Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and the eurozone.
BT in your inbox
Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox.
In particular, exports to Hong Kong slumped by 41.9 per cent year on year, a complete reversal from the 73.4 per cent jump in May, as shipments of non-monetary gold sank by 84.8 per cent.
Exports to China continued to slide in June with an 11.2 per cent year-on-year fall, in part because non-monetary exports nearly halved.
NODX to the US contracted 21.3 per cent year on year in the same period, as electronic shipments fell sharply; there was a decline of 67.1 per cent in disk media products and 56.2 per cent in telecommunications equipment.
Overall, total trade rose by 1.2 per cent year on year in June, extending the 13.9 per cent expansion in the previous month.
