Singapore sees non-oil exports drop for fifth-straight month

Oct 17, 2008, 6:37 GMT

   Singapore - Singapore's non-oil exports fell for a fifth-consecutive month in September as the city-state's customers in Europe and the United States wanted fewer of its electronics and pharmaceuticals, the government's trade-promotion agency said Friday.

   Singapore registered a 5.7-per-cent drop from September 2007 after August's 14-per-cent decline, International Enterprise Singapore said.

   The statistics were released after Singapore entered a recession last quarter because it was selling fewer of its products abroad.

   The largest contributors to the exports contraction were the European Union, the United States and Malaysia, the agency said, adding however, that non-oil exports to China, Indonesia, South Korea and Hong Kong grew.

   For the three-month period that ended in September, non-oil exports contracted 8.5 per cent after a 10-per-cent decline from June through August.

   Singapore's total trade, however, rose by 18 per cent year-on-year in September, higher than August's 10-per-cent growth, International Enterprise Singapore said.

   Total exports increased by 11 per cent, strengthening from a 7.7-per-cent rise in August, while imports expanded by 26 per cent, following August's 14-per-cent hike.

   The figures were released after Singapore's gross domestic product shrank at an annualized rate of 6.3 per cent in the July-September quarter after seeing a 5.7-per-cent contraction in the second quarter, prompting the government to revise downward its estimates for full-year economic growth to 3 per cent.