Malaysia's trade surplus fell sharply in October as exports were outpaced by rising imports, government statistics showed today.

The trade ministry said the October surplus fell 18.5 percent to RM6 billion from a revised RM7.36 billion in September.

Exports in October grew 4.4 percent to RM34.20 billion, while imports were up 11 percent at RM28.20 billion, both being the highest levels seen since September 2000.

In September 2003, exports totalled RM32.76 billion and imports RM25.40 billion.

The gain in exports for October was attributed to increases in most major products, with electrical and electronics, which accounted for 50.7 percent of the total, up 2.1 percent to RM17.34 billion while palm oil rose 0.3 percent to RM2.25 billion.

The top markets

For the 10 months to October, the trade surplus rose 51.5 percent year-on-year to RM62.55 billion, with total exports rising 5.4 percent to 310.35 and imports down 2.15 percent to RM247.80 billion.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), the United States, European Union, Japan, China and Hong Kong remained the top markets in October, accounting for 80.8 percent to Malaysia's total exports, it said.

Asean continued to remain the single largest export market, absorbing 27.3 percent or RM9.33 billion of total exports, up 10.9 percent from September.

Exports to the US increased by 3.3 percent from September to RM6.73 billion, the highest level since July 2002, it said. - AFP