January's rise compared with market expectations for a 4.5 per cent rise on a pick-up in drug exports, and followed a revised 1.8 per cent decline in December.

Non-oil exports in January rose 2.8 per cent from a year earlier to $15.4 billion, on higher petrochemical and disk drive shipments, trade agency International Enterprise Singapore said in a statement.

That compared with a 4.5 percent fall in December, and with a median forecast in a Reuters poll for an annual drop of 5.7 per cent.

The Singapore economy is heavily dependent on trade, and non-oil domestic exports were worth three quarters of the city-state's gross domestic product last year.

January's electronics shipments fell by 1.8 per cent from a year ago while drugs exports fell 26.7 per cent in the same period. Petrochemicals climbed 7.3 per cent.

Singapore's non-oil domestic exports, which comprise of goods that have been manufactured in Singapore or undergone further processing, include mobile phones, medical instruments, and active ingredients for some blockbuster drugs. -- REUTERS