Singapore's NODX falls 8.3% in sixth straight month of decline
A container vessel anchored out past the Pasir Panjang terminal is seen behind cable car cabins in Singapore on Jun 17, 2022. (File photo: AFP/Roslan Rahman)
SINGAPORE: Singapore's non-oil domestic exports (NODX) contracted for a sixth consecutive month in March, falling 8.3 per cent, with both electronics and non-electronics seeing a decline.
The drop marked a slowdown from a 15.8 per cent contraction in February and 25 per cent in January.
According to data released by Enterprise Singapore (EnterpriseSG) on Monday (Apr 17), electronic product exports fell by 22.3 per cent in March, easing slightly from 26.5 per cent the previous month.
Integrated circuits (ICs), disk media products and parts of personal computers contributed the most to the decline, falling by 28.6 per cent, 41.5 per cent and 36 per cent respectively.
Non-electronic exports meanwhile dipped 4.7 per cent following the 12.4 per cent contraction in February.
The biggest declines were in non-monetary gold, petrochemicals and food preparations - by 39.1 per cent, 23.1 per cent and 24.2 per cent respectively.
NODX to the United States and South Korea rose in March but declined for key markets China (-14.1 per cent), Taiwan (-30.4 per cent) and Malaysia (-23.1 per cent).
On a year-on-year basis, total trade declined by 8.6 per cent in March, following a 3.9 per cent decrease in February.
Both exports and imports fell, by 6.5 per cent and 10.9 per cent respectively.
Last Friday the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) left its monetary policy unchanged, pausing a series of tightening moves since October 2021 to tackle rising inflation.
The central bank flagged the risk of a “deeper than anticipated” slowdown in the Singapore economy amid higher risks to global growth.
