The seasonally adjusted decline in non-oil domestic exports from the previous month's level followed a 7.9 percent increase in February, International Enterprise Singapore, the trade promotion body, said in a report.

A drop in pharmaceutical production in the first two months of the year contributed to a 5.8 percent annual pace of economic contraction in the first quarter. Growth may rebound as drug companies raise production after periodic changes to the chemicals they produce and as demand for electronics picks up.

"The drop mainly comes from drugs, which isn't too bad for the broader economy because this industry employs very few people," said Song Seng Wun, an economist at G.K. Goh Holdings in Singapore. "The silver lining is that electronics exports are picking up, which is good for economic growth going forward."

From a year earlier, non-oil exports rose 6.2 percent, up from February's 5.3 percent gain, today's trade report said.

Pharmaceuticals shipments fell 27 percent from a year earlier after a 0.3 percent gain in February. Electronics, which account for half of Singapore's exports, gained 4.8 percent in March after shrinking 3.6 percent in February.

Drug makers periodically switch to producing different chemicals and shut plants for cleaning. This causes swings in output because of the small number of pharmaceuticals factories in Singapore.

Semiconductor shipments rose 4.9 percent from a year earlier, after gaining 3.2 percent in February. Disk-drive exports rose for the first time in more than a year, gaining 7.8 percent in March.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore said April 12 that growth in 2005 would be in the lower half of the government's 3 percent to 5 percent forecast after the economy shrank in the past quarter for the first time in almost two years.

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