Singapore’s non-oil domestic exports experienced an unexpected drop in December, primarily due to a decline in electronics shipments, overshadowing the growth in non-electronics. According to Enterprise Singapore, the Southeast Asian trading hub witnessed a 1.5% decrease in non-oil domestic exports compared to the same period last year. This figure falls short of the 1.0% expansion recorded in November and missed the median estimate of a 4.2% increase from a survey of nine economists conducted by The Wall Street Journal.
On a month-over-month basis adjusted for seasons, non-oil domestic exports saw a decline of 2.8% in December. In contrast, November witnessed a slight increase of 0.3%. This contraction was also higher than the median estimate of a 2.4% decrease from a survey of five economists.
The exports of electronics experienced a significant decline of 11.7% in December compared to the previous year, although this contraction was slightly slower than the revised 12.8% slump in the previous month. On the other hand, non-electronics exports saw a modest increase of 1.4% in the final month of 2023, down from the 5.2% expansion seen in November.
Below is a table showing the percentage change in non-oil domestic exports to key markets in November and December:
| Market | November | December | |————–|————-|————| | Taiwan | -40.0 | -33.2 | | South Korea | -21.8 | -28.2 | | Japan | -10.9 | -18.1 | | Malaysia | -11.6 | -10.2 | | Indonesia | -23.6 | -12.4 | | Thailand | +49.5 | -10.8 | | U.S. | +20.5 | +4.2 | | EU 27 | -21.7 | +8.6 | | Hong Kong | +20.6 | +36.1 | | China | +13.7 | +22.2 |
This data indicates a notable decline in exports to several markets, including Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, and Malaysia, but shows a positive trend in exports to the United States, the European Union (EU), Hong Kong, and China.