Updated on Feb. 12, 2026
Singapore’s trade expanded in 2025, according to a report released by the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) on Tuesday.
Both merchandise and services trade grew.
Total merchandise trade increased by 8.7% to $1.4 trillion in 2025, following the 6.6% growth in 2024 while growth in total services trade had slowed significantly to 3.3% in 2025 following an increase of 13% in 2024.
Total exports in merchandise trade expanded by 9.6% in 2025 driven by growth in both Non-oil Domestic Exports (NODX) and Non-oil Re-exports (NORX) while oil domestic exports declined.
The report noted that NODX growth in 2025 “was supported by a resilient mix of demand-backed segments, aided by continued market diversification.”
NODX grew by 4.8% in nominal terms in 2025 but “grew by 8.6% year-on-year in real terms” according to the report.
The growth in NODX was driven by both electronics (12.7%) due to “robust underlying demand in selected segments — notably AI-linked electronics and related machinery” and non-electronics (2.5%).
The growth in electronics was primarily due to an increase in the domestic exports of ICs, PCs and disk media products.
In terms of non-electronics, the growth was primarily due to higher domestic exports of pharmaceuticals, non-monetary gold and specialised machinery.
The report stated that “the non-oil export price index (EPI) declined for 13 straight quarters from 107.3 in 2Q22 to 91.7 in 3Q25, before staging a modest uptick in 4Q25.”
“The fall in EPI over the quarters was broad-based across major product categories, including machinery & transport equipment and chemicals,” the report added.
The nominal growth of NODX “was underpinned by a rise in export volumes even as their export prices fell” for most of the top contributors.
However, prices of non-monetary gold surged which “accounted for about 60 per cent of this growth.”
Nominal NODX of petrochemicals saw a decline of 14% due to a fall in both prices and volume.
The top three export market growth for NODX came from Taiwan (37.4%) “mainly because of an increase in the exports of specialised machinery, ICs and measuring instruments,” India% (21.9%), and South Korea (21.7%) “on the back of an increase in the exports of ICs, specialised machinery and PCs.”
Meanwhile, NODX to the U.S. suffered a 2% decline.
NODX to China declined the most for the top 10 market by 12% due to “lower exports of specialised machinery, petrochemicals and non-monetary gold.”
Oil domestic exports in 2025 declined by 9.2%, a significant reversal from 1% growth in 2024.
The decrease in oil domestic exports “partly reflected lower oil prices compared to a year ago” while volume “increased by 3.4 per cent in 2025, easing from the 5.7 per cent growth in 2024.”
NORX expanded by 17.2% in 2025, up from the 10.2 per cent increase in 2024.
The growth came from both electronics of 29.6% and non-electronics of 3.7%.
PC exports registered the highest growth of 138.4%, followed by parts of PCs (127.6%) and ICs (10.7%).
For non-electronics NORX, the highest growth was registered in non-electric engines & motors (24.5%), followed by specialised machinery (18.8%) and measuring instruments (11.3%).
Some of the top export market growth for NORX were Taiwan (146%) “on the back of an increase in the re-exports of PCs, parts of PCs and other computer peripherals” as well as Thailand (26.2%).
Exports to the U.S. saw the second highest growth by 53.1% despite 10% baseline tariffs due to “higher shipments of telecommunications equipment, parts of PCs and ICs.”
For China, the top 10 NORX markets saw a decline of 15.7%.
Total service trade grew 3.3% to about $1.056 billion in 2025.
Total service exports grew by 3.5% in 2025, driven by growth in other business services (2.5%), financial services (0.7%) and travel services (0.6%).
Fall in Balance of Payments
Singapore’s balance of payment (net of receipts and payments) declined by 14.1% to $34.1 billion in 2025.
The balance of payment consists of current account balance as well as capital & financial account balance.
The current account balance comprises trade in merchandise and services which amounted to $132 billion, rising slightly by 0.2% from 2024.
Capital & financial account balance, the net lending amount, also grew marginally by 0.5% to $96.4 billion.
Included in the capital & financial account balance were portfolio investment ($95.3 billion), other investment ($95.2 billion), direct investment (-$84.8 billion) and financial derivatives (-$9.3 billion).
Net outflows of portfolio investment declined to $95.3 billion, from $112.2 billion in 2024, due to a reduction in net outflows from deposit-taking corporations, which more than offset an increase in net outflows from the non-bank private sector.
Net outflows of other investment rose to $95.2 billion, from $87.4 billion in 2024, driven by higher net outflows from both deposit-taking corporations and the non-bank private sector.
Net inflows of direct investment decreased to $84.8 billion, from $95.5 billion in 2024, as the increase in residents’ direct investment abroad exceeded the increase in foreign direct investment into Singapore.
Financial derivatives recorded a net inflow of $9.3 billion, an increase from the $8.2 billion net inflow in 2024.
In terms of net current trade balance with China, the report noted that Singapore had a trade deficit (exports less than imports) with the country at $1.1 billion in 2025.
Outlook for 2026
Singapore has upgraded the NODX growth forecast in 2026 to between 2% and 4%, consistent with the International Monetary Fund (IMF)’s projection of “softer growth in global trade volumes” of 2.6%, according to the statement by Enterprise Singapore.
“Since the last update, the 2026 external economic outlook has improved notwithstanding continued uncertainty.”
The statement also said that the upgrade in growth forecast was also in line with IMF’s upgrade of the global economic growth forecast to 3.3% in 2026, up from the previous estimate of 3.1%.
The World Trade Organisation (WTO) highlighted that the rapid acceleration of AI may lead to higher overall growth in global merchandise trade in 2026 than its projection of 0.5%.
“Robust AI-related demand and high gold prices should continue to drive NODX growth, though downside risks of an escalation in trade tensions or a correction in AI-related investment demand remain,” the statement added.
MTI’s report said the GDP growth in the US is projected to be broadly stable in 2026 “supported by robust AI-related investment and the fiscal boost” while growth for the Eurozone is expected to “weaken on the back of subdued exports and industry activity.”
The report also said that China’s GDP growth is expected to moderate, “mainly on account of easing exports growth as economic growth in China’s key trading partners softens and trade barriers continue to rise,” while growth for most of the Southeast Asian economies is projected to ease due to “softening commodity prices, the US tariffs and slower global trade growth are likely to weigh on their exports.”
