Malaysia's trade surplus in November dropped 25 percent from October and was down 9.7 percent year-on-year as exports dipped due to high inventories, the trade ministry said today.

The country posted its 85th consecutive trade surplus in November of RM5.98 billion, with exports falling 12 percent month-on-month to RM38.86 billion and imports down 9.1 percent to RM32.87 billion, it said in a statement.

However, compared with a year earlier, exports in November were up 16.9 percent while imports rose 23.5 percent, it said.

For the first 11 months of the year, the ministry said total exports hit RM437.06 billion, exceeding the RM398.88 billion recorded in 2003. The trade surplus for the 11-month period stood at RM74.02 billion.

The ministry atrributed the month-on-month fall in November's exports to the reduced numbers of working days owing to holidays and a buildup of inventories of electrical and electronics products earlier in the year.

It noted, however, that exports in November was higher than each of the monthly figures recorded in 2003. Electrical and electronic products made up nearly 49 percent of November's exports.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), the United States, the European Union, Japan, China and Hong Kong collectively accounted for 79 percent of Malaysia's total exports for November.