Taiwan's trade surplus for the January-April period plummeted by 87.2 percent from the figure for the same period last year due to declining exports and soaring imports, according to news reaching here from Taipei.

Taiwan's two-way trade amounted to 116.6 billion US dollars in the January-April period, with exports totaling 58.49 billion US dollars, up 8.7 percent over the same period last year, and imports totaling 58.11 billion US dollars, up 14.2 percent.

As a result, Taiwan posted a trade surplus of 380 million US dollars in the period.

By area, Taiwan exports to Southeast Asia totaled 8.195 billion US dollars in the first four months, up a whopping 16.5 percent over the figure for the same period in 2004, while exports to Japan totaled 4.695 billion US dollars, up 10.9 percent.

Although exports to Southeast Asia and Japan continued to soar, the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong remained the largest outlet for Taiwan, absorbing 36.7 percent of Taiwan's total exports in the first four months of this year.

By product, exports of iron, steel and related products increased by 35.3 percent, while imports of crude oil surged 64.9 percent in the January-April period.

Source: Xinhua