Singapore: Non-oil exports slow markedly in April
Non-oil domestic exports (NODX) grew 6.0% year-on-year in April, slowing from March’s 11.9% increase. Despite marking the fifth successive month of growth, April’s result came in far below market expectations, and was driven by a sharp slowdown in electronics export growth. In terms of markets, exports to China, Korea and Malaysia grew in a sign of continued strength in regional demand, while exports to the EU, Japan and the U.S fell.
In seasonally-adjusted month-on-month terms, NODX exports declined 8.8% in April, contrasting from March’s 1.1% increase.
Looking ahead, Euben Paracuelles and Charnon Boonnuch, economists at Nomura, remain optimistic regarding export growth in 2021:
“We expect NODX to remain robust, in line with our view of a more synchronized pick-up in global growth, a sustained tech upcycle and global vaccine manufacturing benefiting pharmaceuticals exports. We think the slowdown in electronics exports should also prove temporary amid the sustained global tech uptrend, and should therefore support the overall NODX improvement further out. Singapore’s electronics exports remain highly synchronized with the global chip sales cycle, which we expect to remain strong.“