SINGAPORE - Singapore's key exports grew 5.4 percent in April from the previous year, rebounding from a decline in March, driven by strong demand from the European Union, China and Indonesia, government data showed Friday.

Non-oil domestic exports (NODX) rose to 14.02 billion Singapore dollars (10.17 billion US), reversing a 5.9 percent annual contraction in March, the trade promotion body International Enterprise (IE) Singapore said.

While NODX to the United States fell 17 percent, exports to the EU rose 17 percent turning around a 24-percent drop in March, IE Singapore said.

Shipments to China and Indonesia expanded 19 percent and 20 percent, respectively, also swinging back from declines.

"The top contributors to the NODX rise were the EU, China and Indonesia," IE Singapore said in a statement.

Non-electronics exports such as petrochemicals, pumps, metal manufactures and parts for tractors and motor vehicles grew 9.8 percent.

Shipment of electronic products dipped 0.4 percent on weaker global demand, but the rate of decline was much slower than the 8.5 percent shrinkage in March.

On a month-on-month seasonally adjusted basis, NODX gained 1.6 percent, compared with the previous month's 2.6 percent decline.

Total trade climbed 21 percent to 82.30 billion dollars, faster than the 11 percent expansion in March.

"The growth of 5.4 percent looks quite decent compared to a dip in the previous month," said Song Seng Wun, a regional economist with CIMB-GK Research.

"At this juncture it does not seem like global demand is slowing too sharply... although going forward we'll certainly be looking at the impact of very high prices of fuel, energy, and other raw materials on household and business consumption."

Citigroup economist Kit Wei Zheng said a sustained recovery in electronics exports will depend on the health of the struggling US economy.

"The bottomline here is that the US is still not out of the woods," he said.

- AFP/ir