Chart of the Day: Darker days are on the horizon for Singapore’s NODX

The city-state’s NODX declined by 3% in 3Q.

The island nation boasts of a robust trade-oriented market economy, and its definitely not a good look for the city-state if its non-oil domestic export numbers are on an unrelenting free fall.

According to a statement by International Enterprise Singapore, Singapore’s total merchandise trade fell by 8.5% in 3Q, following a 10.7% decrease last quarter.

“NODX contracted y-o-y by 3.0 per cent in 3Q 2015, in contrast to the previous quarter's increase of 2.1 per cent,” the statement said.

Even though Singapore registered a considerable rise in electronic NODX, it was ultimately nullified by increasingly depressing shipments of its non-electronic counterparts.

“Electronic domestic exports grew by 4.2 per cent on a q-o-q SA basis in 3Q 2015, in contrast to the 1.2 per cent decline in the previous quarter. Non-electronic NODX decreased by 5.3 per cent in 3Q 2015, after the 2.3 per cent contraction in the previous quarter,” the statement added.

Meanwhile, while NODX to Hong Kong, Thailand, and Japan showed some signs of improvement, NODX to the rest of Singapore’s top markets contracted in 3Q, including China, Taiwan, and the EU.

“Specifically, NODX to China decreased by 7.7 per cent in 3Q 2015, in contrast to the previous quarter’s expansion of 0.5 per cent,” the statement said.