Malaysia recorded a trade surplus of 9.4 billion ringgit (2.54 billion U.S. dollars) in October, making it the 108th consecutive month of trade surplus since November 1997.

Total trade in October was sustained at a high level of 86.67 billion ringgit (23.42 billion U.S. dollars), the second highest monthly value ever recorded for the month of October, the Department of Statistics said Monday.

Likewise, exports valued at 48.03 billion ringgit (12.98 billion U.S. dollars) were also the second highest recorded for the month of October. Imports amounted to 38.64 billion ringgit ( 10.44 billion U.S. dollars).

Compared with the previous month this year, exports and imports in October were lower by 9.6 percent and 9.9 percent respectively.

The lower trade was due to lesser working days as a result of festivities, the department said in a statement.

For the first 10 months, total trade reached 882.58 billion ringgit (238.53 billion U.S. dollars), an increase of 10.3 percent on a year-on-year basis.

Exports were valued at 485 billion ringgit (131.08 billion U.S. dollars), an increase of 10 percent, while imports reached 397.59 billion ringgit (107.46 billion U.S. dollars), an increase of 10.7 percent, it said.