Singapore NODX posts surprise rebound in October

Rebound helps lower accumulated 2013 losses.

NODX growth was positive for only the second time this year as it rebounded to +2/8% yoy in October 2013, according to a Maybank Kim Eng economics report, on the back of a pickup in shipments of non-electronic products.

Data showed that from the previous month, NODX gained by +9.5% while the seasonally adjusted measure was lower at +3.2%.

"The surprise gains in October 2013 led to the year-to-date growth figure narrowing its losses to -6.1% yoy," said Maybank.

"NODX was the star of the show at it improved to +4.9% yoy, which was the highest reading so far this year. The main drivers within the classification were pre-fabricated buildings, printing matter and petrochemicals," it addded.

"Pharmaceuticals exports which accounted for 10.8% of total NODX shipments continued to play the villain as it contracted by -27.3% yoy which in turn led to Chemicals based shipments contracting by -6.3% yoy," it said further.

The ranked top three markets for non-electronic shipments by growth for the month was Taiwan, China and Malaysia, while at the other end of the scale was declines to US, EU 27 and Hong Kong.

Maybank further noted that separately, NORX (Non-Oil Re-exports) improved further to +26.7% YoY in Oct 2013 reflecting the rise in global and regional economic activities and trade growth in 2H 2013 after the weakness at the beginning of the year.

"The divergence between NODX and NORX which has been widening since the start of this year highlights the challenges to Singapore's competitiveness amidst the pursuit of gradual SGD appreciation and rising costs. The growth gap is also important to explain that despite recent weakness in NODX, the continued growth in NORX underpins Singapore's competitiveness or leading position in 'services' (in this case an entreport) as opposed to 'manufacturing,'" said Maybank.