The country's merchandise exports rose 21.3 per cent, year-on-year, to 18 billion dollars in October, this year, Commerce Secretary Rahul Khullar said today. Imports grew 6.8 per cent, to 27.7 billion dollars. The trade gap widened to 9.7 billion dollars. During April-October 2010, exports aggregated 121 billion dollars, increasing 26.8 per cent. Cumulative imports for this period rose 26 per cent, to over 194 billion dollars, leaving a large trade gap of almost 73 billion dollars.Khullar said that after a long time exports growth has been cumulatively higher than import growth. He also said almost all the sectors have reported positive growth in October, although the tobacco, cashew, handicrafts and iron ore sectors have registered negative growth.