Singapore's June exports fall steeper than forecast

SINGAPORE — Singapore's non-oil domestic exports in June fell 8.7 per cent from the same month a year earlier, data showed on Wednesday (July 17), weighed down mainly by weakness in non-electronic products.

The decline compared with a Reuters poll forecast of a 1.2 per cent drop, and followed a downwardly revised 0.7 per cent contraction in May.

Maybank economist Chua Hak Bin said Singapore's port congestion and the logjam from the Red Sea crisis may be dampening the export recovery since manufacturing and electronics sentiment suggest demand remains healthy.

"The disruption may persist for a few months, but may imply some pent-up demand and catching up in export volumes by late third quarter," Chua said.

On a month-on-month seasonally adjusted basis, non-oil domestic exports decreased by 0.4 per cent in June.

Enterprise Singapore's seasonally adjusted data showed the value of non-oil exports at S$13.8 billion in June, level with May and down from S$14.4 billion in June 2023.

The government said the decline was mainly due to non-electronic exports, "primarily, volatile products like non-monetary gold".

Non-electronic products in June fell 8.7 per cent from a year earlier.

Non-oil exports to Singapore's top markets declined as a whole in June. The largest was the 41.9 per cent annual contraction in exports to Hong Kong, after growth of 73.4 per cent in May, due to lower shipments of non-monetary gold, integrated circuits and measuring instruments.

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