SINGAPORE, March 18 (Reuters) - Singapore's non-oil domestic exports fell unexpectedly by 0.1% in February from the same month a year earlier, slowing during the Lunar New Year period, official data showed on Monday.
Last month's decline compared to a Reuters poll forecast of 4.7% growth in February and 16.7% growth seen for January. Singapore had previously estimated growth of 16.8% in January.
On a seasonally adjusted monthly basis, non-oil domestic exports dropped 4.8% versus analysts' estimate of a drop of 0.4%.
Enterprise Singapore in a statement said exports declined "mainly due to non-electronics like food preparations, speciality chemicals and electrical circuit apparatus".
Meanwhile, electronics grew and the largest contributing markets to growth were Hong Kong, the United States and Indonesia, it said.
February's non-oil domestic exports were valued at S$14.2 billion ($10.61 billion) on a seasonally adjusted basis.
($1 = 1.3378 Singapore dollars) (Reporting by Roushni Nair, Kanupriya Kapoor; Editing by Martin Petty)
