What has dragged Singapore's total trade in Q3?

Shipments in Malaysia fell 12.3%.

Trades in Singapore went back into the contractionary zone, falling 4.8% in September after a flat growth in the previous month as non-oil domestic exports (NODX) in majority of the top 10 markets slipped.

According to a report by Maybank KimEng, shipments in Malaysia led the declines as it fell 12.3% in September.

This was on the back of lower shipments of Integrated circuits (ICs) at 17.6%, petrochemicals at 21.9%, and parts of PCs at 47.4%.

Meanwhile, the second largest drag was Indonesia, where NODX shipments dropped for a 14th consecutive month at 16.1%. This is due to the shrinking demands for petrochemicals, primary chemicals, and civil engineering equipment parts.

The brokerage firm also noted that weakness in the shipments of aircraft parts, non-electric engines & motors, and ICs has led to a 7.2% decline in exports to the United States, which makes up 9% of the overall NODX.

"The other key markets which reported declining trends included Japan (-11.2%), Thailand (-8.1%), China (2.2%), India (-4.2%) and Taiwan (-0.1%)," Maybank KimEng cited.

However, in other markets, Singapore NODX reported positive growth. These markets include Hong Kong (21.7%), EU (9.9%) and South Korea (23.8%).