Singapore's April Exports Trebled Forecasts Despite Tariffs
By Reuters | 16 May, 2025

Despite weak demand from China, Singapore's exports surged on strong demand from the US, Japan, S. Korea and most of its Southeast Asian neighbors.

Containers are stacked at Brani container terminal in Singapore February 20, 2025. REUTERS/Edgar Su

Singapore's non-oil domestic exports rose 12.4% in April from the same month a year earlier, government data showed on Friday, well ahead of analyst estimates and a bright spot for an economy heavily exposed to global trade uncertainty.   

The rise compared with a Reuters poll forecasting year-on-year growth of 4.3%, and followed a 5.4% rise in March.

The outlook for the financial hub remains uncertain as global trade is expected to slow under tariffs enacted by the United States.

Selena Ling, an economist at Singapore bank OCBC, said that April's high exports could be a sign of customers attempting to get ahead of any rise in global trade tensions, especially as the tariffs set by U.S. President Donald Trump exempted electronics.

"With the 90-day suspension of the reciprocal tariffs and various ongoing trade negotiations, these few months could be a relief window where front-loading potentially continues until there is better clarity," she said,

"Something to watch is the softening of (non-oil domestic exports) to the US across both electronics and non-electronics."

As one of the world's most open economies, Singapore is often seen as a bellwether for global growth as its international trade dwarfs its domestic economy.

Singapore announced an 'economic resilience' taskforce last month to deal with the trade fallout and the government said it cannot rule out a recession.

It also downgraded its GDP forecast to 0% to 2% from 1% to 3% previously.

Exports to Indonesia, Taiwan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Thailand, Japan and the US increased in annual terms in April, while exports to Malaysia and China decreased.

Shipments of electronics and non-electronics both increased, the data showed.

Details of the month-on-month seasonally adjusted change in exports were not included in Enterprise Singapore's statement.

(Reporting by Bing Hong Lok in SingaporeEditing by Alasdair Pal)