Singapore's nonoil domestic exports rose 6% year over year in April compared with a downwardly revised 11.9% rise in the previous month It was the fifth yearly increase and a result of a softer increase in sales of nonelectronic products.
The result was much lower than an expected 20% increase, according to a consensus of economists.
Sales of electronic products increased much less - 10.9% on year in April compared with 24.4% in March.
Among Singapore's trading partners, exports to South Korea rose 25.0%, Taiwan 14.9%, China 55.5% and Malaysia 57.1%, Statistics Singapore said Monday.
Singapore's nonoil domestic exports fell 8.8% on month in April - reversing from a downwardly revised 1.1% rise in the previous month. It was the first monthly decrease in this data since October, Statistics Singapore said.
The growth in nonoil exports showed positive numbers for a fifth consecutive month, the department said.
Trade agency Enterprise Singapore said the rise was narrower than the 11.9% growth rate registered in the month before.
April's showing falls short of the median rise of 11% expected by economists in a Bloomberg News poll.
A fall in exports to the U.S. and Japan was an extension of the declines seen the previous month, experts said Monday.
Meanwhile, Singapore's nonoil reexports were up by 34.3% -- expanding significantly from the 28.8% increase it posted from the previous month. This comes from the low base in 2020 as well as growth in both electronic and nonelectronic reexports, Enterprise Singapore said.
Overall, total trade in April was up by 26.3% in April, extending the previous month's 19.6% growth. In this time, total exports rose by 26.6% on year from March's 21.0% rise while total imports expanded by 25.9% on year from the previous month's 17.9% increase.
"There is a risk that NODX momentum may moderate further in the coming months," according to Selena Ling of the treasury research and strategy division of OCBC Bank. "This is "due to the global COVID situation and tightening of restriction measures both globally and domestically. The situation remains very dynamic and may imply some downside risk to our existing full-year 2021 NODX growth forecast of 4.0% on year."
Maybank Kim Eng economists Chua Hak Bin and Lee Ju Ye, however, remain positive "on the exports outlook as economic reopening in the U.S. and Europe will continue to drive external demand and trade."
