Singapore’s non-oil domestic exports grew at the fastest rate in five years last month as outbound shipments of electronics and other goods expanded.

Outbound shipments rose 21.5 per cent year on year in February, the quickest pace since the same month in 2012, according to data from International Enterprise Singapore. The rise from 8.6 per cent growth in January was well beyond the 12.8 per cent median forecast from economists compiled by Reuters.

The unexpected expansion bodes well for the shipping nexus following annual contraction of 2.8 per cent in 2016. In its annual projections, IES had forecast growth of 2 per cent for the metric.

Electronics exports grew 17.2 per cent, jumping about 11 percentage points from January, with shipments of non-electronic products jumping 22.3 per cent year on year from growth of just under 10 per cent a month earlier.

The latter expansion was driven in large part by growth of more than 100 per cent in exports of specialised machinery and non-monetary gold.

Shipments to Singapore’s top ten destination markets rose from a year prior, led by China (up 65.1 per cent) and Taiwan (54 per cent), as well as the EU (28.7 per cent).

In month-on-month terms exports were up 1.3 per cent, besting expectations of a 0.8 per cent rise.

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