KUALA LUMPUR, Oct. 5 (Xinhua) -- Malaysia's exports contracted 0.3 percent year-on-year to 81.81 billion ringgit (19.73 billion U.S. dollars) in August, as agriculture goods exports slumped, manufactured goods shipment moderated, according to the latest statistics released on Friday.

Malaysian Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) said in a statement that the countrys imports for that month surged 11.2 percent year-on-year to a new high of 80.2 billion ringgit, resulting in 83.7 percent contraction in trade surplus to 1.61 billion ringgit.

Malaysias total trade in August rose 5.1 percent year-on-year to 162.01 billion ringgit, supported by trade expansion of major trading partners, namely China, Saudi Arabia, Korea, ASEAN, the United States and the European Union.

On a month-on-month basis, imports grew 3 percent while total trade, exports and trade surplus contracted by 1.2 percent, 5 percent and 80.7 percent, respectively.

For the first 8 months, total trade rose 6 percent year-on-year to 1.231 trillion ringgit, exports went up 6.3 percent to 650.56 billion ringgit; imports grew 5.6 percent to 580.11 billion ringgit. Trade surplus for the eight months rose 11.9 percent to 70.45 billion.

For August, exports of manufactured goods posted an annual growth of 1.8 percent, mainly driven by higher exports of electrical and electronic (E&E) products, chemicals and chemical products, iron and steel products as well as optical and scientific equipment.

Exports of mining goods jumped 5.5 percent, boosted by higher crude petroleum value and volume.

Agriculture goods shipment, however, contracted up to 20.8 percent, dragged by lower exports of palm oil and palm oil-based agriculture products.

Meanwhile, Malaysias trade with China expanded 13.7 percent year-on-year to 28.7 billion ringgit.

Its shipment to China grew 4.5 percent to 11.83 billion ringgit, due to higher exports of chemicals and chemical products, Liquefied Natural Gas, E&E products, crude petroleum and optical and scientific equipment. Imports from the country surged 21.1 percent to 16.87 billion ringgit.

Trades with China in the first 8 months jumped 9.6 percent to 206.19 billion ringgit, as exports to the country rose 11 percent to 89.31 billion ringgit, while imports from the country grew 8.5 percent.

MIDF Research revised Malaysia's full-year exports growth forecast to 7.3 percent, due to higher base effects and signs of easing key global indicators.

The research house foresees exports growth to slow from 18.9 percent in 2017. Export performance of the key products seen cloudy amid escalating trade tensions on top of import tariffs imposed by Indonesia and India in order to protect their currency woes.