Singapore’s NODX drops unexpectedly in September, likely to average 5.5 pct in 2017

Singapore’s non-oil domestic exports surprisingly dropped in the month of September. The NODX fell 10 percent sequentially. This was the first year-on-year contraction since April 2017. Electronics exports were the main drag that dropped 7.9 percent year-on-year in September.

Non-electronics NODX performed slightly better but also moderated for the fourth consecutive month from 15 percent year-on-year in August to 1.9 percent year-on-year in September. This was driven by non-monetary gold, petrochemicals and specialised machinery.

According to an OCBC research report, the full-year NODX growth is expected to average about 5.5 percent, which is within IESingapore’s 5 percent to 6 percent full-year NODX growth forecast.

“On a trade-weighted basis, we estimate SGD is still at the strong end of the policy band, at +0.8 percent above the mid-point vs the central bank’s policy band of ±2 percent”, noted Commerzbank in a research report.

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