In February, Singapore’s non-oil domestic exports (Nodx) increased by 3 per cent year-on-year. This figure exceeded economists’ forecasts of a larger decline in Nodx due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Bloomberg polled analysts had forecasted Nodx to fall 4.6 per cent, following the decline in shipments by 3.3 per cent in January.
Based on the data by Enterprise Singapore released on Tuesday (17 March), exports of electronics rose by 2.5 per cent last month from a year ago, whereas non-electronics exports rose 3.2 per cent in the same period.
The main export products that increased were disk media products, capacitors and parts of integrated circuits, which fuelled export growth in electronics.
Disk media products exports rose by 57.4 per cent, capacitors by 128.8 per cent and integrated circuits by 130.9 per cent. In January, there was a decline in electronic exports.
The most popular non-electronic exports in February were pharmaceuticals, non-electric engines and motors, as well as specialised machinery.
In January, non-electronic exports declined by 0.1 per cent while pharmaceuticals rose by 23.7 per cent. Also, non-electric engines and motors exports rose by 37.3 per cent whereas specialised machinery export rose by 74.1 per cent.
Aside from Hong Kong and China, Nodx to Singapore’s top markets mostly rose. Nodx to Hong Kong and China both dropped by 29.2 per cent and 35.8 per cent each respectively.
Last month, exports to Japan rose the most by 61.7 per cent, while exports to the United States increased by 23.5 per cent and exports to the European Union bloc, including Britain rose 43 per cent.
Nodx fell by 4.8 per cent in February compared with January, when looked at on a month-on-month seasonally adjusted basis.
According to the ESG, non-electronic domestic exports fell while shipments of electronics rose. Compared to January where the level of Nodx was S$14.7 billion, the level was Nodx in February was S$14 billion.
