Japan's customs-cleared merchandise trade surplus came to 5.73 trillion yen in the first half of fiscal 2000, down 4.6 percent from a year earlier as imports outgrew exports, the Finance Ministry said Monday.

The figure represents the third straight half-year of decline, the ministry said in a preliminary report.

The trade surplus in June alone was 1.198 trillion yen, up 3 percent from a year earlier, following a 29 percent decline in May.

A ministry official said the surplus has been alternately rising and falling every month since January.

"Both exports and imports are showing a rising trend in terms of volume, but it is difficult to predict the trend in the future," the official said, adding that it is necessary to examine the data from a long-term point of view.

In the January-June period, exports came to 25.07 trillion yen, up 8.9 percent for the first rise in four six-month periods, led by active shipments of goods related to information technology.

Among IT-related goods, exports of semiconductors and other electronics parts rose 24.7 percent, while the fiber-optic and chip-making equipment category rose 21.1 percent.

Auto exports, however, declined 4 percent due chiefly to a 23.4 percent fall in shipments to the 15-nation European Union. Japanese vehicles have lost competitiveness because of the euro's weakness against the yen, the official said.

Imports, on the other hand, came to 19.34 trillion yen, up 13.7 percent for the second straight half-year rise, stemming largely from an 81.6 percent increase in crude oil imports. Crude oil import prices during the period almost doubled from the year before, the official said.

Office equipment imports grew 19.6 percent, while semiconductors and other electronic parts were up 28.6 percent. Manufactured goods accounted for 60.7 percent of all imports during the period.

The yen averaged 106.62 to the dollar, up 11 percent from the same period in 1999.

Japan's politically sensitive trade surplus with the United States expanded 15.4 percent to 3.68 trillion yen, rising for the eighth consecutive six-month period, the ministry said.

Exports to the U.S. rose 3.9 percent to 7.45 trillion yen, the first rise in three half-year terms.

Shipments to the U.S. weakened 12.2 percent for office equipment, but increased by 18.9 percent for semiconductors and other electronic parts. , while telecommunications equipment was up 28.1 percent.

Imports from the U.S. meanwhile sagged 5.3 percent to 3.77 trillion yen for the fifth straight six-month period of decline. Contributing to the fall were aircraft, down 70.3 percent, and office equipment, down 11.2 percent.

The surplus with Asian nations soared 30.3 percent to 2.14 trillion yen, up for the second straight half-year, following the 9.9 percent increase in the previous six-month term.

Exports to other parts of Asia climbed 22.2 percent to 10.07 trillion yen for the second straight half-year of gains, led by a 25.1 percent rise in shipments of semiconductors and other electronic parts.

Imports from the rest of Asia hit a record-high 7.94 trillion yen, boosted mainly by office equipment, which expanded 31.3 percent, and petroleum products, which shot up 121.2 percent.

The previous record high for imports from Asian countries was 7.64 trillion yen, logged in the first half of 1997.

Japan's trade surplus with the EU slid 1.8 percent to 1.83 trillion yen for the third straight half-year of decline. Exports to the region were up 0.6 percent to 4.28 trillion yen for the first increase in 31/2 years and imports from that region up 2.4 percent to 2.45 trillion yen for the first gain in 61/2 years.