Malaysia's trade surplus in May jumped 21.5 percent from April to RM8.05 billion (US$2.24 billion dollars) on the back of strong exports of electronic products and oil, the government said today.

The May figure was also 20.7 percent higher than a year earlier. It marked the 103nd consecutive monthly surplus since November 1997, the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (Miti) said in a statement.

May exports rose 13.2 percent year-on-year to 48.28 billion ringgit while imports were up 11.8 percent at RM40.23 billion.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), the United States, the European Union, China, Japan and Hong Kong were the major markets, taking 78 percent of Malaysia's total exports in May.

Miti said that for the first five months of 2006, exports grew 10.5 percent to RM230.70 billion while imports expanded 12.8 percent to RM190.24 billion, resulting in a trade surplus of 40.46 billion ringgit.