Hormuz Choke Hits Home, Singwashing in Jeopardy

Mar 30, 2026

Singapore business, finance and trade news, every Monday.

a view of a city with tall buildings — Photo by Jordan Tan on Unsplash

Hormuz Choke Hits Home

The Strait of Hormuz closure is hammering Singapore from all sides - from the pump to the trading floor. Bunker fuel prices have nearly doubled to $1,000, Shell has pushed diesel past $4 a litre, (a penny shy of its premium V-Power price), and fuel oil prices are swinging so fast that OTC quotes are only "valid for one to two seconds," as one energy disputes lawyer put it. Brent crude is holding above US$100. Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan framed by saying the Hormuz closure is "in a sense, an Asian crisis," a vulnerability long known but never tested to this extreme.

Read more: Bastillepost (regional vulnerability), Business Times (trading chaos), AsiaOne (pump price), Business Times (hiring slowdown), Business Times (factory contraction)

Beijing Locks the Back Door on Singwashing

Meta's $2 billion acquisition of Manus AI last year looked like evidence of a path for Chinese founders to sidestep both Washington and Beijing by opening up shop in Singapore. The CCP has other ideas. Beijing has reportedly prohibited Manus co-founders Xiao Hong and Ji Yichao from leaving the country and begun a review into whether the sale violated technology export laws, freezing a deal that had captivated Silicon Valley. The company had moved its headquarters and core teams to Singapore in 2025, while getting financial backing from San Francisco's Benchmark and other foreign investors. The money drew flak from both U.S. lawmakers who'd banned American investment in Chinese AI firms, and players in Beijing. "The path taken by Manus: people will not go down that route anymore," says Wayne Shiong of Argo Venture Partners. It seems like the next play will be to start-up outside China from day one, instead of trying to make a mid-growth pivot.

Rules First, Friends Second

A Washington probe named Singapore as one of 16 economies accused of unfair trading practices, and Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong had a a pointed response for reporters by saying there will be no bending of the rules-based trade principles, even if sticking to them hurts in the short term. The Trade Ministry pushed back hard, reminding everyone that Singapore ran a $27 billion trade deficit with the US in 2024, in contradiction to American claims of a surplus of the same amount, as well as by pointing out that industrial space occupancy sits at a healthy 90 percent, not the slack capacity Washington suggested. While Gan said negotiations with the US are ongoing, the Prime Minister spent the week in Hong Kong wooing tycoons including Richard Li and Sino Group's Daryl Ng, to talk up collaboration on innovation.

Read more: South China Morning Post (HK meetings), Financial Times (UK digital deal), Business Times (deficit figures)

Digital Trade's Open-Door Rulebook

Singapore and 65 other WTO members put the world's first global digital trade agreement into action on March 28, covering roughly 70% of world trade after negotiations started in 2017. The Agreement on Electronic Commerce creates baseline rules for cross-border digital transactions, including legal recognition of electronic documents as being as good as paper. Digital transactions now make up more than 60% of global GDP, according to the European Commission, and failing to put these rules into place could cost US$159 billion in yearly lost trade (WTO and OECD research). The UK and Singapore are also going ahead with a bilateral digital trade deal as the WTO stays deadlocked on more general reforms. The agreement is open to new members at any time, a diplomatic hedge for an architecture that still finds both India and the United States absent.

Lion's Vault

MAS wants Singapore to be the home of Asia's gold. The authority announced a gold system push on March 27, covering physical vaulting, OTC clearing, capital market products, and central bank storage services that would put the city-state on the same shelf as Dubai, Shanghai, and Hong Kong. The working group includes heavyweights DBS, JPMorgan, UBS, and the World Gold Council, among others. A day earlier, the LionGlobal Singapore Physical Gold ETF launched on SGX, offering fractional exposure in SGD and USD. Deputy Chairman Chee Hong Tat says the effort is "planting trees" in the wealth management sector, reminding everyone that setting roots will take time but will set the city up for a harvest as gold demand continues to rise.

IPO Bait: Take Two

Temasek and MTI have tapped Fullerton Fund Management and 65 Equity Partners to manage a second S$1.5 billion Anchor Fund tranche to luring listings to the local bourse. Fullerton will play as cornerstone investor in public offerings, and 65 Equity Partners is expected to work with promising late-stage private companies on growth capital and IPO prep. There was a previous S$1.5 billion tranche that was launched in 2022 to solve the same problem, so I guess we know how well that went.

CapitaLand's Data Centre Spree

CapitaLand Ascendas REIT dropped S$1.4 billion on three properties, headlined by its first Japan play, which is a 49% stake in a Tier III hyperscale data centre in Osaka for S$620.7 million. The REIT also picked up a cluster of logistics and industrial buildings at 25 Loyang Crescent and a 50% share in a business space on Science Park Drive. All three deals are expected to lift distribution per unit by about 2.1% on a pro forma basis. The Osaka move is indicative of an inclination to bet on AI-driven demand in existing digital hubs, diversifying beyond the REIT's current Singapore core.

Last Call for Tiger's Singapore Brewery

Asia Pacific Breweries Singapore is cutting 130 jobs over the next two years as it winds down large-scale brewing operations here by year-end 2027. The manufacturer of Tiger Beer currently employs 540. The retrenchment is part of parent company Heineken's global cuts of up to 6,000 roles, announced in February after the Dutch brewer's volumes dropped 2.8 percent last year. Tiger, born in Singapore in 1932, will very shortly no longer be brewed on the island that made it famous.

Singapore Eyes the Atom

The National Environment Agency is expected to commission three studies on nuclear safety frameworks, global best practices, and environmental impacts as the conversation about whether reactor technology can break Singapores 90%+ dependence on imported natural gas. The work comes alongside ongoing Energy Market Authority evaluations of advanced nuclear tech, which started as part of the push to reach net zero by 2050. A 2012 pre-feasibility study came to the conclusion that reactors weren't suited for a small, densely populated island, but the government has kept the idea on the back burner as the technology’s continued to evolve.

Read more: Business Times (hydrogen strategy context), World Nuclear News (international partnerships)

Robot Buses Hit the Road

The first of six driverless buses came to Singapore shores earlier this month and will start carrying passengers on two routes from in second half of the year, running alongside regular buses in a planned three-year trial. The 16-seat vehicles, made by Chinese firms BYD and Zhidao Network Technology with software from MKX Technologies, include wheelchair space and “360-degree sensor coverage.” One route loops Marina Bay and Shenton Way; the other covers the one-north area around Buona Vista.

Rice Media Sold After Running Out of Steam

Rice Media, an independent outlet known for long-form culture stories since 2016, has been acquired by social media agency Hustle Studios after laying off five staff late last year. Founder Mark Tan, a former lawyer, said he initially wanted to just shut the site down, but the sale will now let him settle debts and pay severance. He declined to reveal the price. The publication once pulled 500,000 monthly visitors and expanded to Thailand, but that audience never translated into a lasting business model.

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Hormuz Choke Hits Home, Singwashing in Jeopardy

Singapore business, finance and trade news, every Monday.