Malaysia's trade surplus in June grew 16.1 percent from May, the Ministry of International Trade and Industry said today.

The trade surplus in June of RM7.74 billion was a significant increase of 49.6 percent from June 2004, the ministry said, attributing the rise to strong export growth over the past six months.

Total exports in June rose 4.4 percent from May to RM44.52 billion and were also up 11.7 percent year-on-year, the ministry said in a statement.

The year-on-year increase was due mainly to increased exports of electrical and electronic products, crude petroleum, refined petroleum products, liquefied natural gas and machinery, appliances and parts.

Major export destinations were the United States, Southeast Asian countries, the European Union, Japan, China and Hong Kong, which took a combined 79.6 percent of Malaysia's exports in June.

Imports in June 2.2 percent from May to RM36.78 billion and were also up 6.0 percent year-on-year, the ministry added.

It attributed the increase in imports to a greater intake of intermediate goods such as chemical products and capital goods such as transport equipment and machinery.

For the six months to June, total exports stood at RM253.30 billion, while imports were at RM205.43 billion, resulting in a trade surplus of RM47.88 billion.