Monday December 17, 2007

Singapore non-oil exports down sharply

This article belongs to the Singapore stagflation watch story arc.

channelnewsasia.com :

Singapore's non-oil exports (NODX) fell in November, dropping by 6.0% after seasonal adjustments from October, International Enterprise Singapore said in a statement on Monday [17 Dec 2007]. This was the biggest fall in seven months. Singapore's mainstay exports fell unexpectedly as the electronics sector remained weak and drug shipments tumbled. IE Singapore said electronics exports fell 8.2% from the same month of 2006, marking the tenth straight on-year decline.

Non-electronic exports, mainly pharmaceuticals and petrochemicals, have traditionally compensated for sluggish shipments of computer chips and other related tech exports. However, a 21.5% slump in pharmaceuticals last month weighed down on the sector, which has become a key export for Singapore after the government invested heavily to build up the industry.

Compared with a year earlier, overall non-oil exports fell 3.4% to S$14.6 billion. The Singapore economy is heavily dependent on trade, and NODX were equal to 80% of the Republic's gross domestic product last year.

- This looks bad. Electronics exports are down 8.2% year-on-year, making for 10 straight months of declines. Pharmaceuticals are falling off the cliff. Overall NODX down 3.4% year-on-year. I would have yelled "stagflation", but this might look more like outright contraction if the export figures keep going down like this.

For good measure, the STI dropped 112.82 points today to 3353.56 - unless something fun and interesting happens, like a 700-800 point rally next week (yeah, right), I'd suppose there goes some industry watchers' earlier dreams of STI 4000 by year-end.

The rest of the Asian and regional markets have been tanking as well. Shanghai is down 126 points, India jumped off the building - it's down 794 points, Nikkei is down 264, Australia is down 224, and South Korea is down 55.

(2007-12-17 18:05:02 SGT) [Biz] Permalink

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