Singapore: Non-oil exports unexpectedly rebound in February, despite another fall in electronics exports
Non-oil domestic exports (NODX) increased by 4.9% year-on-year in February, rebounding from January’s 10.1% decline which had marked the sharpest fall in over two years. The reading broke a run of three consecutive monthly contractions and confounded analysts’ expectations of a 3.4% contraction. On a month-on-month seasonally-adjusted basis, NODX expanded 16.0% in February following the previous month’s 5.7% decrease.
February’s result was underpinned by a healthy 9.4% jump in non-electronic NODX which was only partially offset by an 8.0% fall in electronics exports. That said, non-electronic NODX growth was largely thanks to the volatile pharmaceutical and non-monetary gold subsectors. Particularly, exports to China surged thanks to greater exports of non-monetary gold, aromatic chemicals and petrochemicals. Demand for Singaporean goods in Hong Kong, the U.S. and Thailand also expanded, whereas demand from Japan, South Korea and the EU28 continued to contract.