Published on ShanghaiDaily.com (http://www.shanghaidaily.com/)
http://www.shanghaidaily.com/sp/article/2008/200806/20080618/article_363587.htm
Singapore's exports decline on lower sales
Created: 2008-6-18
Author:Shamim Adam
SINGAPORE'S exports fell the most in 17 months in May as the island's manufacturers shipped fewer electronics and other goods to the United States and Europe.
Non-oil domestic exports dropped 10.5 percent from a year earlier following a revised 5.3 percent gain in April, the government's trade promotion agency said in a statement yesterday. Economists expected a 2.1-percent increase.
Manufacturers across Asia face easing demand amid slowing growth in the US, the region's largest overseas market. Singapore's trade promotion body last month lowered its forecast for export growth this year to between 2 percent to 4 percent, from an earlier estimate of 4 percent to 6 percent.
"We are looking at a more protracted US slowdown, and the recovery process will be delayed," Alvin Liew, an economist at Standard Chartered Plc in Singapore, told Bloomberg News. "A pickup in exports won't be imminent."
Exports fell a seasonally adjusted 9.8 percent last month from April, when they advanced 1.6 percent, the report showed. Economists expected a 1.2-percent gain. Non-electronics shipments, which include petrochemicals and pharmaceuticals, fell 11.8 percent in May from a year earlier. Petrochemical exports declined 2.6 percent.
Pharmaceutical shipments fell 48.5 percent last month from a year earlier, after sliding 11.7 percent in April.
Electronics shipments slipped 8.5 percent in May from a year earlier.
Non-oil domestic exports dropped 10.5 percent from a year earlier following a revised 5.3 percent gain in April, the government's trade promotion agency said in a statement yesterday. Economists expected a 2.1-percent increase.
Manufacturers across Asia face easing demand amid slowing growth in the US, the region's largest overseas market. Singapore's trade promotion body last month lowered its forecast for export growth this year to between 2 percent to 4 percent, from an earlier estimate of 4 percent to 6 percent.
"We are looking at a more protracted US slowdown, and the recovery process will be delayed," Alvin Liew, an economist at Standard Chartered Plc in Singapore, told Bloomberg News. "A pickup in exports won't be imminent."
Exports fell a seasonally adjusted 9.8 percent last month from April, when they advanced 1.6 percent, the report showed. Economists expected a 1.2-percent gain. Non-electronics shipments, which include petrochemicals and pharmaceuticals, fell 11.8 percent in May from a year earlier. Petrochemical exports declined 2.6 percent.
Pharmaceutical shipments fell 48.5 percent last month from a year earlier, after sliding 11.7 percent in April.
Electronics shipments slipped 8.5 percent in May from a year earlier.
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