Singapore May non-oil exports jump 15.5%

Singapore May non-oil exports jump 15.5%

SINGAPORE (Reuters): Singapore's non-oil domestic exports, a
key measure of the economy's performance, jumped a nominal 15.5
percent in May to S$8.15 billion when compared with a year
earlier, the Trade Development Board (TDB) said on Monday. The
rise was greater than most economists' forecasts.

A Reuters' poll of 11 economists on Friday forecast that May
non-oil exports would rise 10.9 percent.

The rise in May compared with a year-on-year rise in April of
8.5 percent, indicated that the city-state's exports performance
was being sustained, analysts said.

However, they noted that last year's exports were relatively
weak. At that time, the Asian economic crisis was in full swing.

"The year-on-year comparison was exaggerated by a weak figure
in 1998. Having said that, I think it highlights the improvement
in the trade picture, both for Singapore and for the other
economies in the region," said David Cohen, an economist with
Standard & Poor's/MMS.

"They are being helped by a firming in the global electronics
market, following the softness in the middle of 1998."

Economists said they expected Singapore's trade performance to
continue strongly in June when compared with a year earlier.

They forecast June to show double-digit growth again, but not
as high as May's 15.5 percent.

Electronics, the driving force behind the country's
manufacturing sector, scored 12 percent growth in May to S$5.44
billion, reflecting strong performances in other Asian country's.

Disk drive exports, which were underpinning the pick-up in the
electronics sector, rose 5.7 percent in May to S$1.47 billion.

Electronic exports comprise about 70 percent of Singapore's
non-oil exports.

Singapore's total trade in May was S$30.5 billion, up 11.8
percent from May 1998 but down 2.2 percent from April's total
trade of S$31.17 billion.

Singapore's May oil exports jumped 10.2 percent to S$1.19
billion from a year ago.

The Trade Development Board, which focuses on a three-month
moving average, said Singapore's total trade improved 4.2 percent
from the year-earlier three-month rolling average.

It said this was the first pick-up in trade after 12 months of
contraction, which reflected better global demand for electronics
and the bottoming out of crisis-ridden economies like Malaysia,
Thailand, South Korea and Japan.

It noted that non-oil domestic exports to Japan improved a
sharp 24.4 percent from a year earlier on a three-month rolling
average basis, following the improvement in the Japanese economy.

Japan earlier on Monday reported that imports from Asia rose
7.7 percent in May from a year earlier and that its overall trade
surplus plunged 31.5 percent.