SINGAPORE'S main exports tumbled for the third straight month in July, hurt by weak demand for electronic goods in key markets including the United States, the government said on Monday.

Shipments of non-oil domestic exports (NODX) dropped by 5.7 per cent last month from a year ago, International Enterprise Singapore said.

The fall was bigger than predicted by a Dow Jones Newswires poll of analysts, which forecast a drop of around five percent from the same period last year.

NODX is a key gauge of the trade-led Singaporean economy, Southeast Asia's most advanced.

On a month-on-month seasonally adjusted basis, Singapore's NODX fell 2.2 per cent, reversing the 4.2 per cent rise recorded in June, the trade promotion agency said in its monthly report.

In July, Singapore's NODX shipments were valued at 13.67 billion Singapore dollars while total trade rose 20.6 per cent to 88.30 billion dollars, the trade agency said.

Electronics exports continued a dive begun in February 2007, declining by 14.2 per cent in July to 5.22 billion dollars, it said.

Poor demand from Singapore's main electronics buyers, the United States and Europe, was the main reason behind the drag.

Overall NODX shipments to the US plunged 33.1 per cent in July following a 24.3 per cent fall in June. They skidded 26.9 per cent to Europe last month after a 16.1 per cent decline in June, the agency said.

In the face of a global economic slowdown, International Enterprise Singapore last week cut its export growth forecast.

It predicted NODX could fall 2.0-4.0 per cent this year against a previous forecast for a rise of 2.0-4.0 per cent.

Singapore's economy is largely externally driven and trade is worth more than three times the country's gross domestic product, which was 243.17 billion dollars in 2007. -- AFP