Malaysia's exports fall in January as sales to China slump

* January exports down 0.6 pct y/y vs Reuters poll f'cast 3.0 pct rise

* January imports down 5.3 pct y/y vs f'cast 2.0 pct rise

* Trade surplus 9.01 bln rgt vs f'cast 6.8 bln rgt

* Exports to China down 22.7 pct y/y; to EU up 3.7 pct y/y; to U.S up 18.1

pct

(Releads, and adds analysts comments)

KUALA LUMPUR, March 6 (Reuters) - Malaysia's exports slid 0.6 percent in

January from a year earlier, wrongfooting expectations for a rise, due mainly to

a 22.7 percent fall in sales to China.

Exports to the European Union, the United States and India increased, as

those economies improved, and overseas sales of electrical and electronic

products rose, offsetting lower exports of commodities.

Imports also came in well below forecasts with a fall of 5.3 percent, partly

due to reduced imports of refined petroleum products.

A Reuters poll had forecast a 3.0 percent rise in exports, and a 2.0 percent

rise in imports.

The faster fall in imports resulted in the trade surplus widening to 9.01

billion ringgit ($2.47 billion) in January from 6.4 billion ringgit in the same

month a year ago.

The weaker export figure partly reflected lower commodity prices, said

Michael Wan of Credit Suisse.

Economists had expected imports to grow at a slower pace due to a weaker

ringgit. The weaker currency helped boost exports in ringgit terms. The ringgit

fell more than 4 percent year-to-date, making it the second worst performing

currency in emerging Asia.

"Moving forwards, export growth could go down further," said Wan, adding

that trade balance is likely to "grind downwards" in coming months.

Export demand from China suffered as factory output declined during January

in the world's second largest economy.

Edward Lee, economist at Standard Chartered in Singapore, expected trade

with China, Malaysia's biggest trading partner, to improve in the second half of

the year as the Chinese economy stabilises.

"We are expecting some sort of a tale of two halves but it's not so

distinct," said Lee.

For a graphic on Malaysia's exports and imports, please click: http://link.reuters.com/xyb28s

KEY DATA

(Exports and imports in percent, trade in billions of ringgit)

Jan Dec Nov Oct Sept August July June

Exports 63.9 67.7 63.73 65.09 64.5 63.88 61.12 61.23

y/y % -0.6 2.7 2.1 -3.1 2.0 1.7 0.6 7.9

Imports 57.6 58.5 52.6 63.9 55.2 60.02 57.48 57.26

y/y % -5.3 4.2 0.0 9.1 1.1 7.6 -0.7 9.2

9.01 9.2 11.13 1.19 9.3 3.86 3.64 3.97

Balance

MAIN EXPORTS

January 2015 % of % change

(bln rgt) total vs year ago

Electrical & Electronic Products 21.8 34.2 5.9

Palm oil 3.05 4.8 -22.4

Liquefied natural gas 6.2 9.7 -0.1

Chemicals and products 4.2 6.6 7.5

Crude oil 2.8 4.4 1.2

Refined petroleum products 3.9 6.2 -41.5

Machinery 2.7 4.2 22.7

Rubber products 1.5 2.4 2.2

EXPORT MARKETS

(bln rgt) % of total % yr/yr

China 6.4 10.1 -22.7

Singapore 8.7 13.7 0.9

Japan 7.5 11.7 -0.9

USA 5.9 9.2 18.1

Thailand 3.8 6.0 12.5

($1 = 3.6470 ringgit)

(Reporting by Trinna Leong and Al-Zaquan Amer Hamzah; Editing by Simon

Cameron-Moore)