Exports of apparel, the island's main industrial export, rose 11 percent to 263 million dollars in May 2010 from the year before, as shipments hit by global recession recovered.
Industrial exports increased by 17.1 percent to US dollars 458 million led by rubber and petroleum products.
Earnings from food and beverages and machinery and equipment exports also performed well in May 2010, the central bank said in a statement.
Export earnings during January May 2010 increased by 11.6 percent and import expenditure increased by 42.
4 percent.
The trade deficit during this period expanded to US dollars 2,351 million.
In May 2010 earnings from agricultural exports increased by 7.9 percent to US dollars 153 million, led by the higher prices of agricultural commodities in the international market, the central bank said.
Tea prices increased by 13.0 percent to US dollars 4.44 per kilogram owing to higher demand from the Middle East.
"Rubber prices reached a record US doll