Felicia Tan Fri, Jun 17, 2022
Singapore’s non-oil domestic exports (NODX) increased by 12.4% y-o-y in May, extending the 6.4% growth logged in April.
According to data released by trade agency Enterprise Singapore (ESG), the wider expansion was attributable to the low base pencilled in the year before.
Electronic NODX in May rose 12.9% y-o-y, with integrated circuits (ICs), parts of ICs and disk media products contributing the most to the growth.
ICs, parts of ICs and disk media expanded by 26.6%, 116.3% and 10.3% y-o-y respectively.
Non-electronic NODX also increased by 12.2% y-o-y, driven by non-monetary gold, specialized machinery and measuring instruments that surged 344.4%, 26.4% and 38.0% y-o-y respectively.
The surge in non-monetary gold exports was due to a low base in May, which saw a contraction of 83% y-o-y.
On a m-o-m seasonally adjusted basis, NODX increased by 3.2% to $17.1 billion in May, up from April’s $16.6 billion.
During the month, electronics and non-electronics exports grew, driven by the latter.
In May, NODX to the top 10 markets rose as a whole, with the largest contributors being Malaysia, Taiwan and Indonesia at 27.9%, 24.7% and 41.4% respectively.
NODX to Malaysia increased due to ICs (+98.3%), non-monetary gold (+134.9%) and measuring instruments (+64.3%), while NODX to Taiwan expanded due to growth in specialised machinery (+91.7%), parts of ICs (+240.6%) and measuring instruments (+56.2%). NODX to Indonesia grew due to plastic plates sheets, petrochemicals (+26.9%) and non-monetary gold (+391.1%).
During the month, NODX to the EU27, Hong Kong and South Korea declined.
NODX to emerging markets expanded by 61.9% mainly due to the 155.7% expansion in CLMV or Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam. Latin America and South Asia also contributed to the expansion with y-o-y growths of 88.3% and 34.6% respectively.
In May, non-oil re-exports (NORX) grew by 19.9% y-o-y, extending the 14.5% growth seen in April. This was thanks to expansions in both electronics and non-electronics.
Electronic NORX grew by 11.4% due to ICs, diodes & transistors and personal computers (PCs) with y-o-y growths of 16.6%, 31.2% and 22.5% respectively.
Non-electronic NORX grew by 30.8% y-o-y due to non-monetary gold, non-electric engines & motors and electrical machinery at 162.9%, 30.9% and 109.6% respectively.
NORX to the top 10 markets as a whole rose in May. The top three contributors during the month were Malaysia, Indonesia and the US with growths of 46.3%, 36.5% and 19.4% respectively.
On a m-o-m seasonally adjusted basis, NORX grew by 2.2% in May to $32.9 billion.
In this time, non-electronic NORX grew while non-electronic NORX declined.
Oil domestic exports expanded by 86.4% in May, contributed by higher exports to Indonesia (+185.1%), Malaysia (+130.9%) and Australia (+79.8%).
In volume terms, oil domestic exports decreased by 0.7% in May, after the 11.4% decline in April.
On a m-o-m seasonally adjusted basis, oil domestic exports rose by 8.4% in May, following the 13.3% growth in April.
Total trade grew by 32.4% in May. During the month, total exports expanded by 26.9% and total imports grew by 38.7%.
On a m-o-m seasonally adjusted basis, total trade rose by 4.3% to $122.2 billion.