The US trade deficit declined by 2.7 percent in May to 55.3 billion US dollars, the best showing since March, the Commerce Department reported on Wednesday.

The decline resulted partly from a drop in oil prices and analysts said that the trade improvement was likely to be temporary because prices of crude oil have soared to record levels above 60 dollars per barrel since May.

The report showed that US exports increased 0.1 percent to a new all-time high of 106.9 billion dollars in May. Sales of agricultural products, industrial supplies and consumer goods all set records.

Meanwhile, imports dropped by 0.9 percent to 162.2 billion dollars in the month after setting a record in April. The import of crude oil declined by 1.3 billion dollars.

Source: Xinhua