Driven by slower growth of pharmaceutical shipments, Singapore’s exports rose less than expected in June, revealed official figures today.
Non-oil domestic exports (NODX) rose by 1.1 per cent in June, slowing significantly from 15.5 per cent expansion in May and 11.8 per cent in April, according to figures released by the trade agency Enterprise Singapore.
“On a month-on-month seasonally adjusted basis, NODX decreased by 10.8 per cent in June 2018, after the previous month’s 10.3 per cent growth, due to the decline in both electronic and non-electronic NODX. On a SA basis, the level of NODX reached SGD15.1 billion in June 2018, lower than the SGD16.9 billion high in the previous month,” said Enterprise Singapore in a press release.
As for the performance of the pharmaceutical sector was concerned, its export grew by 19.1 per cent in June from the year earlier, slowing from 32.1 per cent growth in May.
Meanwhile, shipments of electronics fell by 7.9 per cent, after declining 7.8 per cent in May. The growth of non-electronic exports slowed to 4.6 per cent in June, following a 26.2 per cent expansion in the previous month.
In the overall scenario, shipments to four of Singapore’s top 10 markets grew, with growth led by the US and Indonesia. Shipments to China, Singapore’s biggest export market, fell by 15.8 per cent after declining 6 per cent in May.