Latest news with #EnterpriseSingapore
CNA
3 days ago
- Business
- CNA
Small businesses group calls for retail lease reforms amid soaring rent
The Singapore Tenants United for Fairness, which represents more than 700 business owners, businesses, is calling for retail lease reforms, such as rental caps and limits on foreign-owned shops. It is already in talks with Enterprise Singapore and hopes to reach some agreement in the coming months. Retail rents jumped 1.9% islandwide in the first quarter of the year, according to the Urban Redevelopment Authority. In that time, an average of 450 retail stores have shuttered monthly. Kate Low reports.
Straits Times
3 days ago
- Business
- Straits Times
British cyber-security firm invests $1.2m in Singapore office, will hire 20 engineers over 3 years
Goldilock co-founder and co-CEO Stephen Kines with the Firebreak device after the launch event held at CyberSG TIG Collaboration Centre on June 2. ST PHOTO: MARK CHEONG SINGAPORE – British cyber-security firm Goldilock has invested $1.2 million to open an office in Singapore in July, and aims to hire about 20 engineers in the coming years. The company has also received an additional $800,000 from the UK-Singapore Collaborative R&D fund by Britain's innovation agency Innovate UK and trade agency Enterprise Singapore. The two countries had signed the UK-Singapore Digital Economy Agreement in 2022 to boost digital trade between them. Goldilock will have five engineers – with additional support staff – in the first 1½ years of operation here, before expanding to 20 engineers over the next three years, its chief operating officer and co-founder Stephen Kines said on June 2. The company will also look to reskill engineers in other fields, as it believes in bringing different perspectives to cyber security, he added. 'We're looking for engineers that can understand how to think differently about the network architecture, and look at how Goldilock can be deployed in those different situations,' he said. Goldilock's entry in Singapore comes as the Republic's cyber-security workforce has grown in recent years, tripling from 4,000 in 2016 to 12,000 in 2022. According to a report by US-based consulting firm Research and Markets, Singapore's cyber-security market is expected to double to US$4.82 billion (S$6.2 billion) by 2029. Mr Kines was speaking at an event at the CyberSG Talent, Innovation and Growth (TIG) Collaboration Centre in Ayer Rajah on June 2. The Singapore office – which will serve as Goldilock's Asia-Pacific headquarters – will be located in the Ubi area. It is the third location for the five-year-old firm, after Britain and the United States. Ms Rhiannon Harries, deputy trade commissioner for Asia Pacific (South-east Asia) at the UK Department for Business and Trade, described Britain and South-east Asia as 'natural partners' in technology, with a shared ambition for growth and innovation. 'I am pleased that Goldilock has opened its new office in Singapore, highlighting our cyber-security partnership that is going from strength to strength,' she said in a statement. Goldilock's solutions protect users against cyber attacks by allowing them to segment and disconnect parts of their network they want to protect, Mr Kines said. Users can send a text message which activates the technology and effectively pulls the plug on their systems, making it impossible for an attacker to access, he added. 'Think of it as an invisibility cloak – the attacker can't see and can't attack what isn't there,' he said. He noted this is similar to what British retailer Co-Op did when faced with a cyber attack in May, reportedly taking its computer services offline to foil the attackers. The company is named after the Goldilocks principle of finding a balance that is 'just right', just like in the fairy tale of the same name . In the cyber-security company's case, it aims to find a balance between so-called 'hot storage', where data is quickly and easily accessible, and 'cold storage', which is isolated from the internet. On June 2, Mr Kines also announced the company's new modular unit, which is designed to make its solutions more adaptable to different environments. The technology presents an opportunity for the defence sector as well as other industries in the Asia-Pacific to enhance their cyber-security efforts, said Goldilock board senior adviser Anne-Marie Trevelyan, who attended the event. 'It's an opportunity to bring this brilliant UK invention to the region,' said Ms Trevelyan, who previously served as British Minister of State for the Indo-Pacific. In September 2024, Goldilock was one of 10 companies selected to join the second phase of the Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic (Diana), a safety and security initiative by Nato, receiving up to €300,000 (S$440,730) in funding as well as other support. It had been selected for Diana's first cohort a year earlier. Mr Kines credited the 'invaluable support' of the CyberSG TIG Collaboration Centre, as well as the British High Commission in Singapore, for allowing Goldilock to make progress in the Asia-Pacific region. The centre, a joint initiative by NUS and the Cyber Security Agency of Singapore, aims to establish Singapore as a global cyber-security innovation hub. Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Zawya
7 days ago
- Business
- Zawya
Singapore fuel oil stockpiles at four-week highs
SINGAPORE - Onshore fuel oil stockpiles at key trading hub Singapore recovered to their highest in four weeks despite lower imports being recorded, data showed on Thursday. Residual fuel inventories were at 22.34 million barrels (about 3.52 million metric tons) in the week to May 28, up 3.9% week-on-week, Enterprise Singapore data showed. Bunker demand has been largely tepid, according to several trade sources, which limited inventory drawdowns. Fuel oil imports into onshore tanks fell 18% from the previous week to 686,000 tons, with most imports hailing from Russia. Meanwhile, total fuel oil exports rose 7% to more than 331,000 tons. Most volumes were headed for China, excluding regional storage hub Malaysia. Asia remains amply supplied this month, with arrivals in May totalling about 5.5 million tons and climbing from April, according to LSEG Oil Research. Singapore spot differentials for low-sulphur fuel oil have softened this week, while high-sulphur fuel oil differentials recovered slightly. Week to May. 28, Fuel oil (in Total Total Net metric tons) Imports Exports Imports AUSTRALIA 82,716 0 82,716 BANGLADESH 0 20,053 -20,053 CHINA 0 69,048 -69,048 CONGO 73,832 0 73,832 INDIA 0 180 -180 INDONESIA 30,417 0 30,417 KOREA 55 0 55 KUWAIT 55,411 0 55,411 MALAYSIA 109,379 242,101 -132,721 NEPAL 0 19 -19 NETHERLANDS 2,088 0 2,088 NIGERIA 78,921 0 78,921 RUSSIA 238,714 0 238,714 VIETNAM 14,911 0 14,911 TOTAL 686,443 331,402 355,042
Business Times
22-05-2025
- Business
- Business Times
Downside risks could intensify for exporters once 90-day tariff truce expires: EnterpriseSG
[SINGAPORE] Singapore's key exports increased 3.3 per cent in Q1 2025 ended March, higher than the 2.4 per cent expansion in the previous quarter. Enterprise Singapore (EnterpriseSG) said on Thursday (May 22) that non-electronic domestic exports – which made up 79 per cent of non-oil domestic exports (NODX) – rose 1.8 per cent year on year in Q1 2025, reversing the 0.7 per cent contraction in the previous quarter. The increase was largely driven by strong gains in non-monetary gold – which rose by 86.5 per cent – and ship and boat structures, which surged by 637.4 per cent. Meanwhile, electronics domestic exports, which accounted for 21 per cent of total NODX, expanded 9.5 per cent, easing from the 14.2 per cent growth recorded in Q4 2024. Growth was led by personal computers and disk media products, which rose 69.8 per cent and 35.8 per cent, respectively. NODX to key markets saw robust improvement in the first quarter of 2025, with shipments to the US rising 19.2 per cent, Taiwan climbing 55.5 per cent, and Hong Kong increasing 24.7 per cent. In April, key exports exceeded expectations with a 12.4 per cent increase on front-loaded shipments amid US President Donald Trump's tariff truce. BT in your inbox Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox. Sign Up Sign Up But for the full year, EnterpriseSG said, the external outlook has softened amid tariff and trade policy uncertainties, though global growth remains supportive. The International Monetary Fund projects the global economy to grow by 2.8 per cent, with key trade partners such as China, the US, EU-27 and Asean-5 showing growth. Meanwhile, the World Trade Organization expects a slight 0.2 per cent contraction in global merchandise trade volumes. Domestically, about 30 per cent of pharmaceuticals and transport engineering firms anticipate new export orders in the second quarter. Taking these factors into account, Enterprise SG maintains the NODX growth forecast for 2025 at between 1 and 3 per cent growth. The lower bound reflects a cautious outlook for the second half of the year due to evolving tariff risks. Despite the recent easing of US-China trade tensions, downside risks could intensify once the 90-day reciprocal tariff reprieve expires, the agency added, saying: 'These risks include weaker-than-expected demand from key partners and slower growth in major export products.' DBS senior economist Chua Han Teng noted that exporters are expected to capitalise on temporarily lowered tariffs during the 90-day reciprocal truce between the US and China, which began in mid-May. This is likely to result in front-loaded orders – a move likely to bolster Singapore's trade performance in the near term. However, he cautioned that this early boost could be followed by a 'payback period' in the second half of 2025, with trade and production growth slowing as a result. 'While the temporary de-escalation of US-China tensions is encouraging, global trade frictions remain elevated compared to pre-Trump 2.0 levels,' Chua added. He also pointed to lingering uncertainties over US tariff negotiations, including the potential imposition of new duties on semiconductors and pharmaceutical products – two key pillars of Singapore's export base. Meanwhile, Singapore's re-exports had increased by 8.3 per cent, following the 14.2 per cent expansion in the previous quarter. The growth in non-oil re-exports was mainly due to higher shipments of both electronics and non-electronics. Re-exports of electronic products rose by 14.4 per cent year on year in the first quarter of 2025, easing slightly from a growth of 16.4 per cent in the previous quarter. The increase was primarily driven by stronger re-exports of parts of personal computers, which surged by 263.4 per cent, integrated circuits, which rose by 7.8 per cent, and telecommunications equipment, which increased by 20.9 per cent. Non-electronic re-exports also registered growth, rising by 1.2 per cent in Q1 2025, though this marked a moderation from the 11.8 per cent expansion recorded in the fourth quarter of 2024. Key contributors to this growth included higher re-exports of copper, which surged by 396.4 per cent, non-electric engines and motors, up by 16.8 per cent, and specialised machinery, which increased by 12.8 per cent. Re-exports to Singapore's top 10 markets as a whole expanded in the first quarter of 2025. The strongest contributors to this growth were Taiwan, which surged 125.7 per cent; the US, which increased by 53.3 per cent; and Vietnam, which rose by 25.9 per cent. Trade performance Singapore's total merchandise trade expanded by 4.9 per cent year on year in the first quarter of 2025, moderating from the 6.8 per cent growth recorded in the previous quarter. Total exports rose by 3.6 per cent, compared to 5.1 per cent in Q4 2024. This was supported by a 6.7 per cent increase in non-oil exports, even as oil exports declined by 10 per cent. Total imports grew by 6.4 per cent, easing from the previous quarter's growth of 8.7 per cent. On a year-on-year basis, Singapore's total services trade increased by 3.8 per cent in Q1, moderating from a 7.4 per cent growth in Q4 2024. Services export and imports rose by 4 per cent and 3.7 per cent, respectively. The growth in services exports was driven mainly by higher receipts from financial services, which increased by 7.7 per cent; other business services were up 3.7 per cent; and transport services, which grew by 2.1 per cent.
Business Times
22-05-2025
- Business
- Business Times
Downside risks could intensify once 90-day tariff truce expires: EnterpriseSG
[SINGAPORE] Singapore's key exports increased 3.3 per cent in Q1 2025 ended March, higher than the 2.4 per cent expansion in the previous quarter. Enterprise Singapore (EnterpriseSG) said on Thursday (May 22) that non-electronic domestic exports - which made up 79 per cent of on-oil domestic exports (NODX) - rose 1.8 per cent year-on-year in Q1 2025, reversing the 0.7 per cent contraction seen in the previous quarter. The increase was largely driven by strong gains in non-monetary gold, which rose by 86.5 per cent and ship and boat structures which surged by 637.4 per cent. Meanwhile, electronics domestic exports, which accounted for 21 per cent of total NODX, expanded 9.5 per cent, easing from the 14.2 per cent growth recorded in Q4 2024. Growth was led by personal computers and disk media products, which rose 69.8 per cent and 35.8 per cent respectively. NODX to key markets saw robust improvement in the first quarter of 2025, with shipments to the US rising 19.2 per cent, Taiwan climbing 55.5 per cent, and Hong Kong increasing 24.7 per cent. In April, key exports exceeded expectations with a 12.4% increase on front-loaded shipments amid Trump's tariff truce. BT in your inbox Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox. Sign Up Sign Up But for the full year, EnterpriseSG said the external outlook has softened amid tariff and trade policy uncertainties, though global growth remains supportive. The IMF projects the global economy to grow by 2.8 per cent, with key trade partners such as China, the US, the EU-27, and Asean-5 showing growth. Meanwhile, the World Trade Organisation (WTO) expects a slight 0.2 per cent contraction in global merchandise trade volumes. Domestically, around 30 per cent of pharmaceuticals and transport engineering firms anticipate new export orders in the second quarter. Taking these factors into account, Enterprise SG maintains the NODX growth forecast for 2025 at between 1 and 3 per cent growth. The lower bound reflects a cautious outlook for the second half of the year due to evolving tariff risks. Despite the recent easing of US-China trade tensions, downside risks could intensify once the 90-day reciprocal tariff reprieve expires, the agency added. 'These risks include weaker-than-expected demand from key partners and slower growth in major export products.' Meanwhile, Singapore's re-exports had increased by 8.3 per cent, following the 14.2 per cent expansion in the previous quarter. The growth in non-oil re-exports (NORX) was mainly due to higher shipments of both electronics and non-electronics. Re-exports of electronic products rose by 14.4 per cent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2025, easing slightly from a growth of 16.4 per cent in the previous quarter. The increase was primarily driven by stronger re-exports of parts of personal computers, which surged by 263.4 per cent, integrated circuits, which rose by 7.8 per cent, and telecommunications equipment, which increased by 20.9 per cent. Non-electronic re-exports also registered growth, rising by 1.2 per cent in Q1 2025, though this marked a moderation from the 11.8 per cent expansion recorded in the fourth quarter of 2024. Key contributors to this growth included higher re-exports of copper, which surged by 396.4 per cent, non-electric engines and motors, up by 16.8 per cent, and specialised machinery, which increased by 12.8 per cent. Re-exports to Singapore's top ten markets as a whole expanded in the first quarter of 2025. The strongest contributors to this growth were Taiwan, which saw a surge of 125.7 per cent, the US, which increased by 53.3 per cent, and Vietnam, which rose by 25.9 per cent. Trade performance Singapore's total merchandise trade expanded by 4.9 per cent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2025, moderating from the 6.8 per cent growth recorded in the previous quarter. Total exports rose by 3.6 per cent, compared to 5.1 per cent in Q4 2024. This was supported by a 6.7 per cent increase in non-oil exports, even as oil exports declined by 10 per cent. Total imports grew by 6.4 per cent, easing from the previous quarter's growth of 8.7 per cent. On a year-on-year basis, Singapore's total services trade increased by 3.8 per cent in Q1, moderating from a 7.4 per cent growth in Q4 2024. Services export and imports rose by 4 per cent and 3.7 per cent respectively. The growth in services exports was driven mainly by higher receipts from financial services, which increased by 7.7 per cent, other business services were up 3.7 per cent, and transport services, which grew by 2.1 per cent.
