Singapore’s full-year Nodx contracts 13.1% in 2023 from the previous year – its worst annual showing since 2001 (Photo:straitstimes.com) Singapore (VNA) – Singapore’s non-oil domestic exports (NODX) shrank 1.5% year on year in December 2023 after logging a 1% increase in the previous month, driven by continued weakness in shipment of electronics and slower growth in pharmaceuticals, Enterprise Singapore (EnterpriseSG) reported on January 17.
Specifically, NODX fell 1.5% from a year ago. This is below analysts’ expectations of growth, with Bloomberg’s consensus forecast at 3%. These results mean that Singapore’s full-year NODX contracted 13.1% in 2023 from the previous year – its worst annual showing since 2001.
According to Enterprise Singapore, export of electronics fell by 11.7% in December from a year ago, improving slightly from a 12.8% contraction in November. Electronics shipments, which form about a fifth of Singapore’s NODX, have seen 17 straight months of decline.
Conversely, export of non-electronics grew by 1.4% year on year. This marks a second straight month of growth, but a drop from the 5.2% increase recorded in November.
Exports to Singapore’s top 10 markets declined as a whole, led by falls in exports to Taiwan (China), the Republic of Korea, and Japan. But shipments to China, Hong Kong (China), the EU, and the US rose, with exports to the EU growing 8.6% – reversing the previous month’s decline of 21.7 %.
Experts said that Singapore’s NODX performance will be aggravated by supply chain disruptions from the Red Sea tensions and the drought in the Panama Canal, which have led to delays and a rise in logistics costs. EnterpriseSG in November predicted that Singapore’s NODX will grow between 2% and 4% in 2024./.
