Singapore exports ended 2Q on a sour note

June data is even worse than expected.

Singapore's June non-oil domestic exports (NODX) contracted 8.8%y/y, worse than the 4.6% contraction in May and forecast of -6.0%. According to UOB, the fall was due to both the decline in electronic exports (-11.5%) and a plunge in pharmaceutical exports (-35.4%). Within electronics, parts of PC (-35.4%y/y), disk media products (-46.3%y/y) and disk drives (-26.8%y/y) continued to be the hardest hit.

Here's more from UOB>

The top ten contributors to the NODX saw varying degrees of y/y declines (from -1.1%y/y in Thailand to a hefty -33.6%y/y in EU27). The exception was NODX to China which grew 7.0%.

On a seasonally-adjusted basis, NODX actually improved with a 3.2%m/m growth (up from -1.1% in May and above the forecast of 2.4%).

And if we delve more in the comparison to the preceding month, June NODX improved in Asian and other markets but declined in the G3 markets (EU27 down -17.9%m/m, US -4.8%m/m and Japan -12.6%m/m), an indication that G3 demand is still wavering.

NODX had contracted for the 5th consecutive month in June, declining 8.8% year-to-date. Although we are expecting a cyclical recovery in global electronics demand in 2H13 to boost electronics exports, the poor June NODX number reinforces our concerns about significant downside risks will pose to our 2013 full year NODX forecast of 2%.