INTERACTIVE: Singapore Oct petchem exports up 22.9%; NODX up 20.9%

SINGAPORE (ICIS)–Singapore’s petrochemical exports in October rose by 22.9% year on year to Singapore dollar (S$) 1.56bn ($1.1bn), with shipments to China posting a  17.5% increase, official data showed on Friday.

The country’s overall non-oil domestic exports (NODX) posted a 20.9% year-on-year growth to S$15.2bn in October, reversing the 1.1% contraction recorded in September, according to International Enterprise (IE) Singapore.

By volume, Singapore’s exports of benzene fell by 51.8% year on year to 14,723 tonnes in October, while shipments of toluene were 13.2% higher at 48,858 tonnes, according to IE Singapore.

Overseas shipments of paraxylene rose by 5.0% year on year to 141,928 tonnes in October, while exports of methanol were up by 33.2% at 1,359 tonnes.

Singapore’s exports of naphtha slumped by 56% year on year to 54,942 tonnes in October.

Non-electronic NODX, which includes pharmaceuticals and petrochemicals, surged by 28.5% year on year to S$11bn in October, representing a sharp acceleration from the 1.9% growth posted in the preceding month, the trade promotion agency said.

Singapore’s overall exports to seven of its top 10 markets increased in October, led by China, the EU 28 and Malaysia on a year-on-year basis.

Its shipments to Taiwan, Hong Kong and Indonesia, meanwhile, declined compared with the same period last year.

($1 =S$1.36)

Picture: The Port of Singapore – the world’s busiest transshipment port and currently the world’s second-busiest port in terms of total shipping tonnage. (Photographer: Richard Sowersby/REX/Shutterstock)

Interactive by Nurluqman Suratman