Contracting for the 11th month in a row, the country's merchandise exports slumped 17.5 per cent in October, to 21.4 billion dollars. Exports declined mainly due to a steep fall in the shipments of petroleum and engineering products, and of iron ore, amid a broader demand slowdown. Imports shrank 21.2 per cent, to 31.1 billion dollars in October. Consequently, the trade gap narrowed to 9.7 billion dollars in October, from 13.7 billion in the same month last year. Gold imports plunged 59.5 per cent, to 1.7 billion dollars during the month. Oil imports plunged 45.3 percent, while non-oil imports fell 9.9 per cent in October.