S\\\'pore external trade falls again in Mar

SINGAPORE, Apr 17 (Xinhua): Singapore's non-oil domestic exports (NODX), a key gauge of the export performance of the small and highly open economy, dropped by 6.6 per cent on year in March, trade promotion agency International Enterprise (IE) Singapore said on Thursday.
The slump was following a 8.9 per cent spike in February after a contraction of 3.3 per cent in January. The IE Singapore said the worse-than-expected contraction in March was mainly due to declines both in electronics and non-electronics shipments.
On yearly basis, the electronic NODX contracted by 16.1 per cent in March, accelerating the decline of 3.7 per cent in February. Meanwhile, the non-electronic NODX contracted by 2.4 per cent during the same period, in contrast to the 15.0 per cent rise in the previous month.
The fall in electronic exports was mainly due to lower demand for integrated circuits, computer parts and disk drives, while the dip in non-electronic exports was led by pharmaceuticals, aromatic chemicals and specialised machinery, the trade promotion agency said.
The NODX to all of the top 10 markets, except the Chinese mainland and Malaysia, contracted in March. The top three contributors to the NODX decrease in March were EU, China's Hong Kong and South Korea.
The NODX to the Chinese mainland rose by 16.1 per cent in March on year, easing from the previous month's 35.5 per cent surge, and the NODX to Malaysia rose by 6.1 per cent on year.
On the other hand, exports to EU, Hong Kong and South Korea dropped respectively by 27.8 per cent, 26 per cent and 30.9 per cent on year.
On a month-on-month seasonally adjusted basis, the NODX contracted by 8.9 per cent in March, compared to the previous month 's 7.0 per cent expansion, mainly due to a decrease in both electronic and non-electronic NODX.