S'pore's July Exports Rise 0.5% From June

Source : The Business Times, August 17, 2007

SINGAPORE - Singapore's non-oil exports rose less than expected in July, climbing a seasonally adjusted 0.5 per cent from June, data showed on Friday.

July's rise compared with market expectations for a 1.3 per cent rise, and followed a disappointing 2.9 per cent increase in June, which prompted the Government to cut its 2007 growth forecast for non-oil domestic exports to 4-6 per cent from 7-9 per cent.

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Non-oil exports in July rose a faster-than-expected 5.5 per cent from a year earlier to $14.5 billion (US$9.5 billion), trade agency International Enterprise Singapore said in a statement. That compared with a 1.2 per cent rise in June, and with a median forecast in a Reuters poll for annual increase of 3.2 per cent.

Economists had forecast that higher exports of drugs and offshore oil rigs in July offset sluggish electronics exports, which make up around 40 per cent of Singapore's non-oil exports.

July's electronics shipments fell for the sixth month in a row, down 10.6 per cent from a year ago, while drugs exports rose 45.3 per cent in the same period. Petrochemicals climbed 1.0 per cent.

Singapore's non-oil domestic exports, which comprise of goods that have been manufactured in Singapore or undergone further processing, include mobile phones, medical instruments, and active ingredients for some blockbuster drugs. -- REUTERS