Singapore’s exports rose for the first time in 19 months in November as a recovery in the global economy boosted demand for pharmaceuticals and reduced a slump in electronics sales.

 

Non-oil domestic exports climbed 8.7% from a year earlier, after a revised 6.2% contraction in October, the trade promotion agency said in a statement today. The median forecast of eight economists surveyed by Bloomberg News was for a 2.2% gain.

 

Singapore, whose economy expanded in the six months through September after a yearlong contraction, is dependent on a revival in overseas sales to sustain its recovery. The government said last month it doesn’t expect a return to recessionary conditions even as the outlook for the second half of 2010 remains uncertain.

 

Export growth “will likely accelerate in the coming months as external demand gradually recovers,” said Mitul Kotecha, Hong Kong-based head of global foreign-exchange strategy at Calyon, the investment banking unit of France’s Credit Agricole SA. “However, we do not expect to see a large sequential improvement in the fourth quarter and 2010 on the back of fragile growth in major developed countries.”

 

A rebound in industrial production has helped Singapore emerge from its worst recession since independence in 1965. The government last month raised its 2009 forecast for exports, predicting shipments may drop 10% to 11%, less than the previous estimate for a decline of as much as 12%.

 

Exports may increase 10.1% next year after sliding 12% in 2009, according to the median forecast in a quarterly survey of economists by the Monetary Authority of Singapore released last week.

 

Singapore’s non-oil exports rose a seasonally adjusted 19.8% last month from October, when they slid a revised 12.7%, today’s report showed.

 

Electronics shipments dropped 6.1% in November from a year earlier to $4.6 billion, after a 13.8% decline in October.

 

Non-electronics shipments, which include petrochemicals and pharmaceuticals, rose 19% in November after declining a revised 0.6% in October. Pharmaceutical shipments gained 78%.

 

The performance of Singapore’s pharmaceutical industry is volatile as production swings by companies such as Sanofi- Aventis SA can cause industrial output to fluctuate from month to month. Drug companies sometimes shut plants for cleaning before making different products.