Singapore: Non-oil exports rise in August surpassing market expectations
Non-oil domestic exports (NODX) rose 7.7% in annual terms in August, rising at a faster pace than July’s 5.9% increase and beating market expectations. The acceleration was largely driven by a growth in overseas sales of non-electronic products, most importantly non-monetary gold and specialized machinery. Similarly, electronic exports also gained steam in August. In terms of markets, exports to China, EU 27 and the U.S. grew notably in August, whereas sales to Indonesia, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Thailand recorded a decline compared to the same period last year.
In seasonally-adjusted month-on-month terms, NODX exports jumped 10.5% in August, following July’s 1.2% increase.
Regarding the positive results, Prakash Sakpal, senior economist at ING, commented:
“Contrary to expectations of the global pandemic hitting regional exports hard, Singapore’s have held the ground well so far this year. Up 3.6% YoY year-to-date, USD-denominated growth is the fastest in Asia. […] We would consider a mid-single-digit YoY growth as a reasonable scenario for the remaining months of the year, which is what you get if you assume that the NODX level hovers around its current 3-month moving average over the remaining months of the year.”