Nonoil domestic exports fell a seasonally adjusted 3.3 percent from August, when they declined 2.7 percent, International Enterprise Singapore, the trade promotion body, said.

Singapore's export growth trails that of South Korea and Taiwan, suggesting that the city's electronics industry may be losing market share to rivals.

The report Monday may prompt the government to lower its preliminary estimate that the economy expanded at an annual 3.2 percent pace in the third quarter, said Song Seng Wun, an economist at CIMB-GK Research.

"This may confirm suspicion that Singapore isn't making the kind of gadgets and widgets that are in demand globally and are benefiting Taiwanese and Korean companies," Song said. "This is not a good sign and raised the prospect that the flash estimate for third-quarter growth may need to be revised downward."

South Korean exports rose 18.7 percent in September from a year earlier, the fastest pace in 10 months, while Taiwan's exports gained 8.5 percent. Singapore's exports, which rose 7.1 percent in August from a year earlier, fell 0.4 percent in September year-on-year.

Singapore's economy expanded 4.7 percent in the first nine months of this year, and growth for 2005 may still exceed the government's forecast of as much as 4.5 percent, as electronics makers fill rising overseas orders and drug makers increase production.

Higher electronics shipments may fuel economic growth of as much as 5 percent in 2006, the central bank said last Tuesday.

Exports of electronics rose to 6.48 billion Singapore dollars, or $3.84 billion, in September, from 5.94 billion dollars in August. After adjusting for seasonal variations, electronics exports rose 4.6 percent in September from August following a 6.2 percent decline that month, the report Monday said.

Pharmaceutical shipments fell to 961.9 million dollars in September, from 1.34 billion dollars in August.

Electronics exports rose 1.7 percent in September from a year earlier, following August's 1.7 percent gain, the report showed. Semiconductor shipments rose 1.8 percent from a year earlier, after declining 0.6 percent in August. Compared with August, semiconductor shipments rose.

Disk-drive exports fell 12.7 percent from a year earlier, following August's 5.9 percent decrease. Exports of telecommunications equipment fell 6.5 percent from a year earlier. Pharmaceutical shipments, which account for 10 percent of nonoil exports, fell 22.1 percent in September from a year earlier, after a 6 percent gain in August.

Exports to the European Union, Singapore's biggest market in 2004, fell 9.8 percent in September from a year earlier. Shipments to the United States, the second-biggest, fell 13.5 percent, and those to China rose 20.7 percent from a year earlier.

Retail sales show resilience

Retail sales in Singapore in August rose despite a drop in visitor arrivals and as consumers scaled back spending after the end of an annual shopping festival.

The 6.8 percent increase from a year earlier in the Statistics Department's retail sales index compared with 10.1 percent growth in July. Excluding vehicles, retail sales rose 6.4 percent from a year earlier, following July's 9.9 percent gain.

Visitor arrivals fell 7.5 percent in August from a record in July, when the International Olympic Committee met in Singapore to pick the host of the 2012 Summer Games.

"The Great Singapore Sale boosted the retail numbers in June and July," Suan Teck Kin, an economist at Oversea-Chinese Banking in Singapore, said before the report was released. "There has been a reversion to normal spending patterns after that."

Singapore held the sale, which attracts overseas shoppers, between May 27 and July 24 this year. The city received a record 876,561 visitors in July and 810,423 in August.

Overall retail sales in August declined 9.7 percent from July, the Department of Statistics said Monday. Excluding cars, the index fell by 5.7 percent from July.

Adjusted for seasonal factors, retail sales in August fell 2.3 percent from the previous month. Excluding cars, the index fell 3.4 percent from July, the government said.

Vehicle sales in August rose 7.3 percent from a year earlier, compared with a gain of 10.2 percent in July.

                                                      Home