Singapore's external trade contracts again in March

Singapore's non-oil domestic exports (NODX), a key gauge of the export performance of the small and highly open economy, dropped by 6.6 percent on year in March, trade promotion agency International Enterprise (IE) Singapore said on Thursday. The slump was following a 8.9 percent spike in February after a contraction of 3.3 percent in January. The IE Singapore said the worse-than-expected contraction in March was mainly due to declines both in electronics and non-electronics shipments. On yearly basis, the electronic NODX contracted by 16.1 percent in March, accelerating the decline of 3.7 percent in February. Meanwhile, the non-electronic NODX contracted by 2.4 percent during the same period, in contrast to the 15.0 percent rise in the previous month. The fall in electronic exports was mainly due to lower demand for integrated circuits, computer parts and disk drives, while the dip in non-electronic exports was led by pharmaceuticals, aromatic chemicals and specialized machinery, the trade promotion agency said. The NODX to all of the top 10 markets, except the Chinese mainland and Malaysia, contracted in March. The top three contributors to the NODX decrease in March were EU, China's Hong Kong and South Korea. The NODX to the Chinese mainland rose by 16.1 percent in March on year, easing from the previous month's 35.5 percent surge, and the NODX to Malaysia rose by 6.1 percent on year. On the other hand, exports to EU, Hong Kong and South Korea dropped respectively by 27.8 percent, 26 percent and 30.9 percent on year. On a month-on-month seasonally adjusted basis, the NODX contracted by 8.9 percent in March, compared to the previous month 's 7.0 percent expansion, mainly due to a decrease in both electronic and non-electronic NODX