Singapore’s exports rose the most in 2-1/2 years in October, well over double expectations as surging sales to China helped more than recoup a decline the month.
The affluent city state has benefited this year from an upturn in global demand, stoking a welcome recovery in its manufacturing sector after a prolonged period of sluggishness.
Non-oil domestic exports last month jumped 20.9 per cent year-on-year, data from the trade agency International Enterprise Singapore showed on Friday.
It was the biggest rise since March 2015, with annual shipments to China - Singapore’s largest export market - soaring 53.3 per cent in October versus a 9.5 per cent rise the month before.
The better-than-expected figures reinforced analysts’ views that September’s poor result was a one-off.
Exports had unexpectedly contracted 1.1 per cent in September as electronics sales fell for first time in almost a year.
Electronics exports, a major driver of shipments in recent months, rose 4.5 per cent in October from a year earlier, while non-electronic products grew 28.5 per cent.
With the exception of the September decline, exports of electronics grew at a double-digit pace for most of this year.
On a seasonally adjusted month-on-month basis, exports grew 12.5 per cent after a 11.0 per cent decline in September, and well ahead of an expected rise of 5.1 per cent.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore held policy steady last month but changed a reference to maintaining current settings for an extended period, a shift that analysts said created room for a tightening next year.
