SINGAPORE, Aug. 11 (Xinhua) -- Singapore's non-oil domestic exports (NODX), a key gauge of the export performance of the economy, registered flat year-on-year growth in the second quarter of 2016, while non-oil re-exports (NORX) saw a decline, said International Enterprise (IE) Singapore Thursday.
The trade promotion agency said Singapore's total merchandise trade declined by 5.7 percent year-on-year in the second quarter of 2016, following the 9.7 percent decrease in the previous quarter.
The decrease can be attributed to the decline in both oil and non-oil trade, said IE Singapore. Oil trade contracted by 25.1 percent in the second quarter of 2016, following the previous quarter's decrease of 36.2 percent. While non-oil trade declined by 0.4 percent, following the previous quarter's decrease of 3.2 percent.
On a quarter-on-quarter seasonally adjusted basis, total merchandise trade increased by 5.6 percent in the second quarter of this year, in contrast to the previous quarter's decline of 7.0 percent. Oil and non-oil trade expanded by 30.8 percent and 1.6 percent respectively.
IE Singapore revealed that NODX posted a flat growth in the second quarter of 2016 year-on-year, in contrast to the previous quarter's contraction of 9.0 percent, attributed by the expansion in non-electronic NODX which outweighed the contraction in electronic NODX.
Domestic exports of electronic products contracted by 5.1 percent year-on-year in the second quarter of this year, after the decline of 3.4 percent in the previous one. The decrease in electronic NODX can be attributed to lower domestic exports of PCs, parts of PCs and disk drives.
While non-electronic NODX increased by 2.1 percent year-on-year in the second quarter of 2016, in contrast to the 11.3 percent contraction in the previous quarter. The growth in non-electronic NODX can be attributed to higher domestic exports of civil engineering equipment parts, non-monetary gold and pharmaceuticals.
NODX to all of the top NODX markets, except China, Indonesia, South Korea, Japan and Thailand, increased in the second quarter of 2016, said IE Singapore.
The biggest contributors to the NODX expansion in the quarter year-on-year were the United States, China's Taiwan and China's Hong Kong.
On a quarter-on-quarter seasonally adjusted basis, NODX increased by 9.4 percent in the second quarter of 2016, in contrast to the 4.9 percent decrease in the previous quarter, on higher shipments of non-electronic NODX which outweighed the decline in electronic NODX.
IE Singapore said NORX contracted by 1.9 percent year-on-year in the second quarter of 2016, following the 5.0 percent decrease in the previous quarter. The decrease in NORX can be attributed to lower electronic NORX shipments which outweighed the increase in non-electronic NORX shipments.
Singapore's total services trade expanded by 1.2 percent to reach 97.6 billion Singapore dollars (72.8 billion U.S. dollars) in the second quarter, in contrast to the 0.4 percent decrease in the preceding quarter.
Looking ahead, IE Singapore said the 2016 projections for total merchandise trade is narrowed upwards to between -7.0 and -6.0 percent. Notwithstanding the sluggish global outlook, there are potential upsides in the export performance of non-electronic NODX.
The full-year projection for NODX is narrowed towards the upper end of its current forecast range to between -4.0 and -3.0 percent, added IE Singapore.
