SINGAPORE'S exports climbed in June at less than a third the pace estimated by economists as manufacturers shipped fewer electronics goods and sales of pharmaceuticals eased.

Non-oil domestic exports rose 1.1 percent from a year earlier, after a revised 7.6 percent gain in May, the island's trade promotion agency said in a statement yesterday. The median estimate of 16 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News was for an increase of 3.8 percent.

Europe's debt crisis, slowing US growth and supply chain disruptions as a result of disasters in Japan have damped demand for Asian goods. Purchasing managers' indexes and export data released this month showed factory output slowing in Asian economies from China to South Korea, which may reduce the scope for monetary policy tightening as regional growth cools.

"The impact from Japan production seemed to have passed but global uncertainty over eurozone debt worries, a soft US recovery and record highs in the Singapore dollar is expected to weigh on" export growth, Chester Liaw, an economist at Forecast Pte in Singapore, said before the report.

Electronics shipments by companies such as contract manufacturer Venture Corp dropped 17.2 percent in June from a year earlier, after declining 15.2 percent the previous month.

Non-electronics shipments, which include petrochemicals and pharmaceuticals, increased 12 percent.