Japan's trade surplus in fiscal 2003 grew 16.3 percent from the previous year, with both exports and imports reaching record levels amid active trade with China and other parts of Asia, the Finance Ministry said Wednesday.

The merchandise trade surplus -- exports minus imports -- came to 11.24 trillion yen, marking a second consecutive year of rise. The surplus was above 10 trillion yen for the first time in four years, confirming that the country's recent economic recovery is driven by exports, officials said.

Overall exports stood at 56.06 trillion yen, while imports amounted to 44.83 trillion yen.

The most outstanding element in the last fiscal year was the increasingly important role played by other parts of Asia, as both exports and imports with the region marked record highs and nearly a half of overall trade came from there.

The surplus with Asia surged 35.4 percent to 6.21 trillion yen, rising for two years in a row. Backed by a boom of digital gadgets, Japanese manufacturers exported components of digital cameras and mobile telephones to China and elsewhere in Asia to build products at low cost.

Imports from Asia were largely attributed to China, which shipped more laptop personal computers to Japan.

Japan's exports to and imports from China broke record highs.

Japan's imports from China rose 13.3 percent to 9.01 trillion yen, surpassing that from the United States for two consecutive years.

Exports to China jumped 28.6 percent to 6.97 trillion yen. As a result, Japan's trade with China alone resulted in a deficit of 2.05 trillion yen.

Meanwhile, Japan's trade surplus with the U.S. declined 10.2 percent to 6.62 trillion yen. Exports to the U.S. stood at 13.38 trillion yen and imports at 6.76 trillion yen.