Singapore September exports fall 4.8%, better than forecasts

In August, overseas sales stalled with shipments to the US picking up and exports to China falling less than the previous month

Singapore's exports in September fell less than expected as a decline in shipments to China moderated and sales to Europe rebounded, but the outlook for the trade-dependent economy remained grim on sluggish global demand.

Non-oil domestic exports last month slid 4.8 per cent from a year earlier, the trade agency International Enterprise Singapore (IE Singapore) said in a statement on Monday.

The median forecast in a Reuters poll was for a 6.0 per cent contraction.

In August, overseas sales stalled with shipments to the United States picking up and exports to China falling less than the previous month.

On a month-on-month, seasonally adjusted basis, non-oil domestic exports increased 2.4 per cent in September, IE Singapore said, beating a forecast 1.5 per cent expansion in the survey.