S'pore's key exports slump 20.7% in March, worse than expected

Steep fall driven largely by non-electronics, though electronics shipments also dropped

- Chor Khieng Yuit

The latest report card on Singapore's trade performance released on April 17 has economists sounding warnings on the export outlook and pointing to weakness in the key semiconductor industry.

domestic exports Non-oil (Nodx) shrank 20.7 per cent in March, a steeper contraction than February's revised 0.2 per cent decline, albeit from a high base a year ago.

But the drop was also much worse than the 7.4 per cent fall forecast by analysts in a Bloomberg poll.

Trade agency Enterprise Singapore (EnterpriseSG) said the steep fall in exports was driven largely by non-electronics, which includes pharmaceutical shipments, though electronics shipments also dropped.

For the first quarter, Nodx fell by a larger 3.4 percent compared with the 1.4 percent drop seen in the fourth quarter of 2023.

The data confirms expectations that Singapore's external sector stalled in the first quarter, said Mr Shivaan Tandon, an economist at Capital Economics.

Non-electronics Nodx contracted by 23.2 per cent in March from a year ago, extending the 1.7 per cent decline in February.

Shipments from the pharmaceutical segment sank 70.3 per cent ($2.1 billion), snapping a fivemonth growth streak, while exports of ship and boat structures slid 99.8 per cent ($900 million), contributing to the sharp declines in non-electronics shipments.

Mr Khoon Goh, head of Asia research at ANZ, said he is not concerned about the "big dive in pharmaceutical exports" because the category is "very volatile". He expects pharmaceuticals to rebound in the coming months.