SINGAPORE - Growth of both trade and exports eased in 2018, leading trade promotion agency Enterprise Singapore to maintain its growth forecasts for non-oil domestic exports and total merchandise trade at 0 to 2 per cent for 2019. Total trade crossed the $1 trillion mark last year.

Year-on-year Nodx growth slowed to 4.2 per cent last year from 8.8 per cent in 2017, with the Nodx dipping 1.1 per cent in the final quarter of 2018. The cooling comes after Nodx jumped 8.0 per cent in the third quarter of 2018.

Enterprise Singapore attributed the Nodx growth last year to "higher exports of non-electronic Nodx which outweighed the decline in electronics". Non-electronic Nodx increased 8.2 per cent in 2018, easing from a 9.2 per cent gain in 2017, while the electronic Nodx fell 5.5 per cent. Electronic Nodx had risen 8.0 per cent in 2017.

Shipments to the top major markets as a whole were up last year, led by the United States (+38.2 per cent), the European Union (+15.7 per cent), Japan (11.4 per cent) and Indonesia (11.3 per cent). But non-oil exports to China, South Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Malaysia declined.

Total trade jumped 9.2 per cent to a high of $1.1 trillion in 2018, against a 11.1 per cent increase in 2017. Both export and imports grew 7.9 and 10.6 per cent respectively last year.

Total services trade went up 2.3 per cent in 2018 to $500.4 billion, following a 11.7 per cent expansion in 2017. Both services exports and imports rose 4.1 and 0.6 per cent respectively.