Singapore's export performance recovers in February

Singapore non-oil domestic exports (NODX), a key gauge of the export performance of the small and highly open economy, rose by 9.1 percent on year in February, trade promotion agency International Enterprise Singapore said on Monday. It was a huge recovery compared with the 3.3 percent decrease in the previous month, due to an increase in non-electronic NODX, which outweighed the contraction in electronic NODX. On a yearly basis, the electronic NODX contracted by 3.7 percent in February, eased from the decline of 17.0 percent in January. On the other hand, the non-electronic NODX expanded by 15. 4 percent during the same period, following the 3.5 percent increase in the previous month. The NODX to all of the top 10 markets, except South Korea and China's Hong Kong, expanded in February. The top three contributors to the NODX expansion in February were China's mainland, China's Taiwan, and the United States. The NODX to China's mainland rose by 35.5 percent in February on year, following the previous month's 15.3 percent increase, led by petrochemicals, primary chemicals and pharmaceuticals. Meanwhile, the NODX to the United States and China's Taiwan rose respectively by 22.3 percent and 10.2 percent on year. On a month-on-month basis, the NODX expanded by 7.2 percent in February, compared to the previous month's 5.0 percent contraction, due to an increase in both electronic and non-electronic NODX.