Singapore's non-oil exports up 3.7 pct in May

Singapore's mainstay exports, the non-oil domestic exports (NODX), increased by 3.7 percent year- on-year to 13.9 billion Singapore dollars (about 9.1 billion U.S. dollars) in May, according to the figures released by the government on Monday.

The improvement in NODX, following a 0.4 percent contraction in the previous month, was due to a stronger expansion of non- electronic exports offsetting the sustained fall in electronics shipments, Singapore's trade promotion agency, the International Enterprise Singapore (IE Singapore), the government said in a statement.

Domestic exports of electronic goods continued to decline for the fourth month in a row by 16 percent in May.

The weakness can be attributed to the contraction in domestic exports of ICs, disk drives, telecommunications equipment, and diodes and transistors, the IE Singapore said.

The NODX to the top 10 markets, except China' Hong Kong and Taiwan, Thailand, Indonesia and the United States, grew in the month. In particular, the Europe Union, Malaysia and Japan were the top contributors to NODX growth in May.

The NODX to the United States fell by 0.6 percent while the NODX to the European Union grew by 22 percent in May.

The NODX to China increased by a mild 0.6 percent, following three straight months of decline as higher non-electronic NODX offset a drop in electronic domestic exports.

Singapore's total trade contracted by 0.3 percent to 68 billion Singapore dollars (about 44.4 billion U.S. dollars) in May, after a growth in April of 8.1 percent, as falling imports dragged down increases in exports, the report said.

Source: Xinhua