By Jason Subler

 

BEIJING, April 9 (Reuters) - China's trade surplus rose as expected in March to $13.5 billion, according to Reuters calculations based on Commerce Ministry data, highlighting its continuing export prowess in the face of a U.S. slowdown.

 

Such a result would mark an increase from $8.56 billion in February and $6.9 billion a year earlier and would be in line with economists' forecasts of a surplus around $13.3 billion.

 

The official Xinhua news agency on Wednesday cited the commerce ministry as saying that machinery and electronics exports reached $181.4 billion in the first quarter and represented 59.3 percent of the country's overall exports.

 

Imports of such goods in the first three months reached $125.3 billion, accounting for 47.4 percent of total imports, it said.

 

That means overall exports for the first three months were $305.9 billion, with imports at $264.35 billion, for a surplus for the first quarter of $41.55 billion.

 

The surplus in the first two months was $28.05 billion, meaning the resulting surplus for March was $13.5 billion.

 

That would bring China's 12-month rolling surplus to $257.2 billion, compared with $250.6 billion in February, $265.5 billion in January and $262.2 billion in 2007, signalling that the underlying momentum for the surplus remains strong.

Subtracting total exports in the first two months from those for the first quarter as a whole, March exports came in at $108.9 billion, just over 30.5 percent greater than a year earlier.

 

Similarly, imports reached $95.41 billion in March, marking annual growth of about 24.6 percent.

 

That would mark the first time since September that exports have grown more quickly than imports and would show that exports remain resilient even in the face of accelerating appreciation of the yuan <CNY=CFXS> in recent months, which could see it strengthen past 7 per dollar soon.

 

Economists had expected exports to grow by an annual 31 percent in March, with imports up 30 percent.

 

The figures could be subject to rounding errors, but they correspond with the annual growth rates given by Xinhua for imports and exports in the first quarter.

 

Xinhua cited the ministry as saying that machinery exports in January through March rose 23.1 percent from a year earlier and that the growth rate was 1.7 percentage points higher than that for overall exports, meaning overall exports grew by 21.4 percent from a year earlier in that period.

 

Similarly, it said that machinery and electronics imports grew by an annual 16.4 percent in the first quarter and that the growth rate was 12.2 percentage points lower than the overall rate, meaning overall imports grew by 28.6 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier.

 

Using those growth rates to calculate first-quarter exports and imports yields almost identical results to the ones based on imports and exports of machinery as a percentage of the total. (Reporting by Jason Subler, editing by David Christian-Edwards)

 

M'bishi Heavy expects profit fall after 07/08 jump

 

TOKYO, April 28 (Reuters) - Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd (7011.T: Quote, Profile, Research) said development costs of new passenger jets and the high yen would weigh on its earnings in the year to March 2009, putting a halt to its annual double-digit profit expansion since 2004/05.

 

Mitsubishi, which builds power plants, car engines, aircraft and submarines, on Monday predicted an 11.8 percent fall in operating profit to 120 billion yen for the year just started, below a consensus estimate of 124.68 billion yen in a survey of 17 analysts by Reuters Estimates.

 

Operating profit in the year ended March 31 increased 24.9 percent to 136.03 billion yen on strong sales of power plants at home and in other Asian markets, where the weakening of the yen boosted its profit margins. That compares with a consensus estimate of 133.19 billion yen.

 

Mitsubishi last month launch a $1 billion project to build Japan's first passenger jet, taking a big gamble on a market dominated by Canada's Bombardier Inc (BBDb.TO: Quote, Profile, Research) and Brazil's Embraer (ERJ.N: Quote, Profile, Research).

 

Development costs for the lightweight and fuel-efficient jet carrying 70-90 passengers will total 150-180 billion yen, about a third of which is expected to be shouldered by the government.

 

Mitsubishi competes with General Electric Corp (GE.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and Siemens AG (SIEGn.DE: Quote, Profile, Research) in power plants business and other heavy machinery businesses.