SINGAPORE, May 25 (Xinhua) -- Singapore's total trade expanded on a year-on-year basis in the first quarter of 2017, as both non-oil domestic exports (NODX) and non-oil re-exports (NORX) grew, said the country's trade promotion agency International Enterprise (IE) Singapore on Thursday.
On a year-on-year basis, Singapore's total merchandise trade in the first quarter expanded by 16.3 percent, following a 4 percent expansion in the previous quarter. The rise can be attributed to the increase in both oil and non-oil trade, which expanded by 77.1 percent and 6.8 percent, respectively.
Non-oil domestic exports (NODX), a key gauge of the export performance of the economy, rose 15.2 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2017, due to increased shipments of both electronic and non-electronic NODX, said International Enterprise (IE) Singapore.
Exports of electronic products expanded by 9 percent in the first quarter, following the 1 percent growth in the previous quarter. The increase can be attributed to rise in domestic exports of ICs, parts of PCs and disk media products.
Non-electronic NODX edged up by 17.8 percent in the first quarter, mainly because of specialized machinery, petrochemicals and non-monetary gold.
Meanwhile, NORX increased by 6.6 percent in the first quarter of 2017, following the 1.4 percent decline in the previous quarter. The year-on-year rise in NORX can be attributed to higher shipments of both electronic and non-electronic NORX.
Singapore's total services trade rose by 4.3 percent in the first quarter, extending the 3.4 percent growth in the preceding quarter.
