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SINGAPORE: Singapore's non-oil domestic exports (NODX) slumped to their worst decline in more than two years in March, with shipments to most of its top markets declining.

Exports fell 11.7 per cent year-on-year in March after the 4.8 per cent growth in February, as electronic and non-electronic exports decreased, data from trade agency Enterprise Singapore showed on Wednesday (Apr 17).



That came in higher than the 2.1 per cent decline predicted by economists in a Reuters poll.



The fall is the worst since October 2016, when exports fell 14 per cent year-on-year.



On a seasonally adjusted month-on-month basis, Singapore's exports contracted by 14.3 per cent in March, following the previous month's 16.0 per cent expansion.



Electronic exports slumped by 26.7 per cent year-on-year, after the 8.2 per cent decrease in February.

ICs, PCs and disk media products contracted by 22.2 per cent, 46.3 per cent and 40.3 per cent respectively, contributing the most to the decline in electronic NODX.

Non-electronic exports declined by 7.0 per cent year-on-year in March, after the 9.4 per cent increase in the previous month.

Specialised machinery (-24.4 per cent), pharmaceuticals (-36.5 per cent) and petrochemicals (-15.1 per cent) contributed the most to this decline.

Total trade decreased by 0.9 per cent in March on a year-on-year basis, after the 3.3 per cent growth in the preceding month.

Overall, exports to nine out of Singapore's top 10 markets declined in March, except to the United States. The largest contributors to the NODX decrease were Japan (-36.6 per cent), Taiwan (-27.4 per cent) and Hong Kong (-22.4 per cent).

Editor's note: Details on electronic exports and export markets have been corrected in this story. We apologise for the error.

