KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 13 Asia Pulse - Malaysia posted a trade surplus of RM6.0billion (US$1.58 billion) in November 2004, down from RM6.6 billion forthe same month in the previous year, the Statistics Department said.

It said the current month's surplus was lower due to a 23.5 per centincrease in imports while exports rose 16.9 per cent.

Total imports for the current month were worth RM32.9 billion whileexports were valued at RM38.9 billion.

The department said electrical & electronic products remained the biggestexport revenue earner. The products worth RM18.9 billion accounted for48.5 per cent of total exports.

Among imports, intermediate and capital goods, which accounted for 86.2per cent of total imports, surged 22.1 per cent to RM28.3 billion.

During the first 11 months of 2004, Malaysia recorded a trade surplus ofRM74.0 billion as against RM74.6 billion in the same period of 2003.

Total exports climbed 21.3 per cent on-year to RM437.1 billion whileimports expanded by 27.1 per cent to RM363.0 billion.

During January-November last year, electrical & electronic productscontinued to be Malaysia's largest export revenue earner, yieldingreceipts of RM220.3 billion or 50.4 per cent of total exports.

The export revenue from this category of products rose by 15.4 per cent(+RM29.4 billion).

Its major component namely, electronic integrated circuits, whichaccounted for 28.2 per cent of total exports of electrical & electronicproducts, went up by 4.2 per cent (+RM2.5 billion) to RM62.2 billion.

Palm oil & palm oil-based products, with a total combined value of RM26.7billion (6.1 per cent of total exports), remained the second largestexport revenue earner.

Exports of palm oil, the major commodity in this group of products,slipped 1.5 per cent on-year to RM18.4 billion. This decline was due to8.9 per cent fall in export volume during the period.

Crude petroleum, the third largest export commodity, were valued at RM19.9billion, an increase of 43.4 per cent year-on-year.

Timber & timber-based products, the fourth largest export revenuecontributor (4.1 per cent of total exports), increased by 19.0 per cent toRM17.9 billion.

Among imports, intermediate goods valued at RM261.6 billion accounted for72.1 per cent of total imports during January-November 2004.

Malaysia's major trading partners continued to be the U.S, Singapore,Japan, and mainland China. These four countries contributed 50.3 per centof Malaysia's total trade in January-November 2004.