TOKYO: The finance ministry asserted on Thursday, that Japan’s exports expanded for 11th straight month in October, up by 7.8 percent year-on-year up to 5,723.6 billion yen which is around 68.95 billion U.S. dollars.

However, it said, the rate of export growth, hitting a new low in 11 months against the backdrop of global economic slowdown, continued to slow in the reporting month. With the imports expanding from 8.7 percent to 4,901.7 billion yen (59.05 billion dollars), trade surplus rose up to 2.7 percent to 821.9 billion yen (9.89 billion dollars).

By marking the first fall in 11 months, export to countries in the European Union dropped by 1.9 percent to 655.3 billion yen (7.89 billion dollars) and the figures before adjustment for seasonal factors are measured on a customs-cleared basis.