But non-oil domestic exports to China eased 5.1 percent in April on-year after a 1.1 percent expansion in March, while sales to the U.S. fell 8.3 percent, compared to a 19.0 percent growth in March.  China's economy lost further momentum in April, adding to concerns that Beijing's growth target of around 7 percent for the year is at risk even if the government rolls out additional stimulus measures.  Recent disappointing U.S. data also suggested the world's top economy may be struggling to regain momentum after an abrupt slowdown in the first quarter.  "What's quite clear is that the U.S. had a soft patch in the first quarter, and so far the recent economic numbers point to a similarly weak second quarter as well," said Selena Ling, an economist at Oversea-Chinese Banking.  Read MoreIMF: This is the most important risk for Singapore  "And then China, it's also quite clear the slowdown story is ongoing. So I am not surprised that some of the softness is coming through in terms of the export data."  Activity in the city-state's manufacturing sector slowed to its lowest in more than two years in April, contracting for a fifth straight month, with the electronics sector hit and new orders declining, a survey showed earlier this month.  Non-oil domestic exports of electronics fell 3.8 percent in April from a year earlier. That compared with 10.4 percent growth in March.  Manufacturing is a key driver of the city-state's exports, but it has been underperforming regional competitors such as South Korea and Taiwan due to fierce competition and a lack of popular high-tech products such as smartphones.  In April, pharmaceutical exports offset a slowdown in electronics. Overseas shipments of pharmaceuticals gained 7.5 percent in April from a year earlier after a 65.9 percent jump in the previous month.
Singapore's annual exports unexpectedly rose in April on strong Europe demand, but there were weaknesses in shipments to the US and China.