Singapore Jan. non-oil exports suffer biggest fall in more than two years
SINGAPORE — Singapore’s exports stumbled more than expected in January, getting 2019 off to a bumpy start amid signs trade frictions are having an impact on Asia’s trade-reliant economies.
Weak export data released on Monday comes two days after Singapore reported the fourth quarter had slowest growth in more than two years and warned of significant moderation for manufacturing this year.
“Singapore joins other countries in the region, like Korea, which have been seeing slower export numbers as well,” Maybank Kim Eng economist, Lee Ju Ye said, adding that she expects slower exports this year, particularly in the first quarter.
Also on Monday, Japan reported that overseas orders for machinery posted their biggest decline in more than a decade in December, and manufacturers expect orders to fall further this quarter as trade friction weighs on global demand.
Singapore’s non-oil domestic exports (NODX) fell 10.1% in January from a year earlier, data from the trade agency Enterprise Singapore showed
That was significantly worse than the 1.6% decline predicted by a Reuters poll, a further slowing from December’s 8.5% decline and the biggest drop since October 2016.
Exports to all Singapore’s top trading partners declined in January from the year earlier, including exports to the US, which fell 4.6% after 15 months of doubledigit growth.
Shipments to China fell 25.4% in January from the year earlier, after a 15.4% increase in December.
On a seasonally adjusted month-on-month basis, exports contracted 5.7% in January after declining a revised 4% in December. The poll called for a 2.6% expansion from the month before.
On Friday, Enterprise Singapore reported that for the whole of 2018, Singapore’s non-oil domestic exports expanded 4.2%. Significantly, there was an 8.8% drop in non-oil domestic exports to Singapore’s biggest trade partner, China, compared with a 31.1% rise in 2017.
Electronics exports dropped 15.9% from a year earlier.
The Singapore dollar weakened slightly against the US dollar on the trade news.
Later on Monday, Singapore Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat will present the budget proposal for the coming fiscal year. —