Singapore NODX surprisingly falls in April on non-electronics exports, likely to grow 0-2 pct in 2017

Singapore’s NODX surprisingly drops 0.7 percent year-on-year and 9 percent sequentially in April. This is the first drop since October 2016 and compared to the March performance of 16.5 percent year-on-year rise and 1.1 percent decline sequentially. Exports of electronics moderated a bit to 4.8 percent in April from 5.2 percent in March, underpinned by parts of PCs, disk median products and ICs.

Non-electronics exports mainly weighed on the total headline figure. It shrank 2.9 percent year-on-year as highly volatile pharmaceuticals exports contracted 39.9 percent year-on-year. Six of the top ten NODX markets witnessed NODX growth in the month, led by Taiwan, South Korea and China. Meanwhile, EU, Hong Kong, Japan and the U.S. saw NODX decline.

For the initial four months, the NODX grew 10.9 percent year-on-year. This is still quite healthy as compared to -8.4 percent year-on-year for the same period last year; however, is likely to stay negative in May at -7.5 percent year-on-year before levelling off to a more modest rate for the rest of 2017.

According to Selena Ling, Head of Treasury Research & Strategy, OCBC Bank, the NODX is expected to grow in the range of 0 percent to 2 percent for the whole of this year, as compared with the -2.8 percent year-on-year recorded last year.