KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Malaysia's exports grew faster-than-expected in January, rising 10.4 percent from a year ago largely due to higher shipments of palm oil and petroleum products, the trade ministry said Thursday.

January exports were worth 53.03 billion ringgit ($16.6 billion), the highest value ever recorded for the month, the ministry said in a statement. Ten economists polled by Dow Jones Newswires had forecast average growth of 6.7 percent.

Compared to December, January's exports were down 2.1 percent.

Imports for the month totaled 43.23 billion ringgit ($13.5 billion), up 6.9 percent from a year ago but down 3.4 percent from December, the ministry said.

January's results continued a trend from last year of weak electrical and electronics exports being offset by strong commodities shipments, economists said.

Exports of electrical and electronic goods, which accounted for 40 percent of all shipments, fell to around 21 billion ringgit ($6.6 billion), down 11 percent from December.

Shipment of palm oil accounted for 3.9 billion ringgit ($1.2 billion; euro790 million) and crude petroleum exports totaled 3.6 billion ringgit ($1.1 billion), the ministry said.

It didn't give an on-year comparison. Previous data showed January 2007 exports of electrical and electronics goods at 22 billion ringgit, palm oil at 2.1 billion ringgit and crude petroleum at 1.83 billion ringgit.

Malaysia's trade surplus in January was 9.8 billion ringgit ($3.1 billion), a surge of 29 percent from a year ago and up 4.1 percent from December.

Last year, Malaysia's exports grew at 2.7 percent, dropping from a 10.3 percent pace in 2006 because of lower demand for electrical and electronic products from its top trading partner, the United States.

The government predicts growth will pick up this year in line with global trade expansion and higher shipments to emerging markets.

source: The Associated Press