A boat sails past a container vessel docked at the PSA West Coast port terminal in Singapore on April 11, 2023. (Photo by Roslan RAHMAN / AFP)
SINGAPORE: Singapore's total trade fell 8.6 per cent on a year-on-year basis in March with total exports and imports declining by 6.5 per cent and 10.9 per cent, respectively.
According to Enterprise Singapore (EnterpriseSG), total trade declined in March 2023 due to the decrease in both oil trade (16.1 per cent) and non-oil trade (6.7 per cent).
"Oil trade declined amid lower oil prices than a year ago, while non-oil trade decreased due to the contraction in electronics trade (21.6 per cent),” said EnterpriseSG (EnterpriseSG) in a statement today.
EnterpriseSG is a statutory body under the republic’s Ministry of Trade and Industry.
On a month-on-month seasonally adjusted basis, EnterpriseSG said total trade rose by 8.0 per cent in March 2023, after the 6.5 per cent decline in February 2023.
"Total trade reached S$104.0 billion in March 2023, higher than the previous month's S$96.4 billion,” it said.
In March 2023, total exports increased by 6.9 per cent, after the 5.8 per cent decrease in the preceding month while total imports grew by 9.1 per cent, after the 7.3 per cent decline in February 2023, it added.
On a yearly basis, Singapore’s Non-oil Domestic Exports (NODX) decreased by 8.3 per cent in March 2023, following the 15.8 per cent contraction in the previous month with both electronics and non-electronics declining.
Electronics declined by 22.3 per cent in March, following the 26.5 per cent contraction in the previous month while non-electronic products decreased by 4.7 per cent following the 12.4 per cent contraction in the previous month.
EnterpriseSG noted that NODX to the top markets as a whole declined in March 2023, except for the US and South Korea.
The largest contributors to the decline were China (14.1 per cent), Taiwan (30.4 per cent) and Malaysia (23.1 per cent), it said.
Singapore’s oil domestic exports declined by 3.5 per cent in March 2023 year-on-year, after the 5.8 per cent rise in February 2023.
"Lower exports to Indonesia (-15.8 per cent) and Australia (-16.3 per cent) contributed the most to the decline in oil domestic exports,” said EnterpriseSG.
In volume terms, oil domestic exports expanded by 24.7 per cent in March 2023, following the 13.5 per cent growth in the previous month, it said.
On a monthly basis, oil domestic exports rose by 8.4 per cent in March 2023, after the 4.8 per cent decline in February 2023. - Bernama
