SINGAPORE: Singapore’s exports declined 8.9 per cent in August, marking the sixth straight month of year-on-year decline.
This follows a revised 11.4 per cent decline in July, Enterprise Singapore said in a media release on Tuesday (Sep 17).
A Reuters poll had forecast a 12.2 per cent contraction for August.
READ: Singapore’s exports down 11.2% in July
The numbers, which exclude oil, reflect a drop in exports to the majority of Singapore’s top markets, except China to which it rose 38.5 per cent.
Hong Kong (-32.0 per cent), United States (-15.0 per cent) and Malaysia (-19.7) were the largest contributors to the decline.
Singapore’s non-oil domestic exports (NODX) up till August 2019. (Graphic: Enterprise Singapore)
Total trade decreased by 8.6 per cent year-on-year in August – after a 6.2 per cent drop the previous month – reflecting declines in both exports and imports.
On a seasonally adjusted basis, non-oil domestic exports (NODX) rose 6.7 per cent month-on-month in August, after the previous 3.5 per cent increase. The growth is seen in both electronic and non-electronic exports.
Both electronic and non-electronic exports declined last month from the previous year.
Electronics recorded a 25.9 per cent drop, on the back of a 24.2 per cent decrease in July. The decline was most prominent in integrated circuits, personal computers and disk media products.
Non-electronic exports fell by 2.2 per cent, easing from the 6.7 per cent drop in July. Pharmaceuticals (-23.6 per cent), petrochemicals (-20.8 per cent) and primary chemicals (-29.3 per cent) contributed the most to the decline.
