Singapore's key non-oil domestic exports (NODX) in September grew 16.9 percent from a year ago, down from recent levels but still well above analysts' forecasts, official figures showed Monday.
"Both electronic and non-electronic NODX continued to report positive, though more moderate, growth in the month," International Enterprise (IE) Singapore, the government's trade body, said in a statement.
Analysts had forecast export growth of 6.0 to 16.5 percent year-on-year in September, down from 29 percent in August, partly due to the high comparative base in September 2003.
"The number is pretty decent actually, especially if you consider the fact that in August we saw a rather strong 4.8 percent growth in month-on-month terms," said Nizam Idris, deputy head of research at IDEAglobal.com.
"This is actually a small moderation," he said. September NODX was down 1.4 percent from August.
NODX reached 12.23 billion Singapore dollars (7.2 billion US) last month.
Electronics exports rose 13.6 percent year-on-year to 6.38 billion dollars, boosted by larger shipments of semiconductors, especially to China and the United States, as well as computer parts and telecommunication equipment.
Exports of semiconductors last month rose 17.3 percent year-on-year to 1.88 billion dollars. Disk drive exports, however, remained weak, slumping 20.1 percent to 1.28 billion dollars, after declining 6.7 percent in August.
Non-electronics exports grew 20.8 percent to 5.85 billion dollars, powered largely by petrochemical shipments to regional markets led by China, Malaysia and Taiwan, IE Singapore said.
Total chemical exports grew 27.6 percent to 2.67 billion dollars in September.
Nizam said there was a risk that electronics "may be a drag going forward, in terms of production, as well as exports."
A decline last month in non-oil retained imports of intermediate goods, a short-term indicator of overall manufacturing activity in the months ahead, could indicate a downward trend in electronics shipments, he said.
US new orders for electronics have also been in negative territory for the past three months, Nizam said, but he added that any decline in NODX growth would be gradual and biomedical shipments may help offset an electronics slowdown.
In other developments, a cabinet minister said Singapore's jobless rate was expected to fall to 4.0 percent or lower by the end of the year despite high world oil prices and slower growth in the trade-driven economy.
Manpower Minister Ng Eng Hen said in remarks published Monday that growth in the first six months of the year would likely drive down the unemployment rate from 4.5 percent in the third quarter.
"I think we are quite comfortable and confident that unemployment will go down to that level," the Straits Times quoted Ng as saying.