Singapore’s non-oil domestic exports continued to fall by 25% in January from a year ago, marking its fourth consecutive month of contraction. The decline was much lower than the 20.6% year-on-year fall in December 2022 and compared with expectations by a Reuters poll for a 22.0% fall.
According to OCBC economist Selena Ling, the contraction in exports could have been worse without growth in pharmaceuticals that almost doubled in January to S$1.76 billion ($1.32 billion) from December.
On a monthly basis, non-oil domestic exports rose 0.9% in January, showing better progression than a 2.9% drop in December.
Non-domestic oil exports to Singapore’s top 10 markets also declined as well in January..
Exports to China plunged 41.1%, due to lower shipments of specialized machinery, petrochemicals and pharmaceuticals, while exports to the United States dropped by 31.5% due to a decline in sales of structures of ships and boats, specialized machinery and food preparations.
Selena Ling said that she expected the outlook in 1Q23 to remain soft on slowing global demand conditions and weak electronics momentum.
