April trade gap shrinks more than expected

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The trade deficit shrank much more than expected in April to $58.5 billion, as the weakening U.S. dollar appeared to depress import demand and help push exports to a record, a U.S. Commerce Department report on Friday showed.

The trade gap narrowed 6.2 percent from a downwardly revised estimate for March. The April tally fell below the $60 billion to $66.9 billion range of estimates made by analysts surveyed before the report.

The Commerce Department also revised its estimate of the 2006 trade deficit to $758.5 billion, from a previously reported $765.3 billion.

U.S. exports rose slightly to a record $129.5 billion. The 0.2 percent increase partly reflected a $3 billion upward revision in March exports to $129.2 billion.

Exports of both goods and services set records, and several categories such as foods, feeds and beverages, industrial supplies and materials and consumer goods also hit all-time highs.

A 1.9 percent drop in overall imports also helped rein in the trade deficit, despite a jump in the average price of imported oil to $57.28 per barrel that boosted the dollar value of oil imports to the highest since September.

Imports of consumer goods dropped $1.5 billion in April while autos and auto parts fell by $1 billion. Other categories, such as capital goods and foods, feeds and beverages, also showed a decline.

Imports from China increased 6.6 percent in April to $24.2 billion, while U.S. exports to that country fell 11.5 percent to $4.8 billion. As a result, the closely watched trade gap with China swelled 12.3 percent to $19.4 billion.