Singapore's non-oil exports down 14 pct in December 2006

Singapore's mainstay exports, the non-oil domestic exports (NODX), declined by 14 percent year- on-year in December 2006 after expanding by 8 percent the previous month, according to the figures released by the government on Wednesday.

The drop in NODX can be attributed to decline both in electronic and non-electronic NODX, Singapore's trade promotion agency, the International Enterprise Singapore (IE Singapore), said on a media briefing.

The exports of electronic products contracted further by 19 percent in December, worsening from the 8.4 percent decline in November, while the exports of non-electronic products reversed last month's robust 25 percent expansion to decline by 9.7 percent.

The NODX to the top 10 non-oil export markets declined in December, except for Japan. The European Union, Chinese Taiwan province, Indonesia and the United States were the four largest negative contributors to NODX growth.

The NODX to the United States declined by 5.1 percent after ten months of expansion, while the NODX to the European Union declined by 28 percent after rising 40 percent in November.

The NODX to China reversed last month's 2.7 percent expansion to decline by 5.6 percent in December because of weaker electronic NODX.

Singapore's total trade in December moderated to register a 1.2 percent increase after November's 8.7 percent expansion due to weaker exports, reaching 68 billion Singapore dollars (about 44.2 billion U.S. dollars).

Source: Xinhua