Colombia's trade surplus jumped in April to $696.6 million, widening from the surplus posted in the same month last year, the government's DANE statistics agency said.

Colombia registered a trade surplus of $485 million in April 2010, DANE said in a statement.

Imports increased 32.2 percent in April to $4.2 billion compared with a growth of 19.3 percent in the same month last year, driven by purchases of vehicles and car parts, it said.

The bulk of imports came from the United States and Mexico, it added.

Colombia posted a trade surplus of $1.75 billion in the first four months of the year with the largest trade surpluses with the United States and Holland while the biggest deficits were with Mexico and China, according to the agency.

Colombia said earlier this month that exports rose 34.6 percent in April compared with the same month a year earlier to a total of $4.69 billion, driven by oil sales. (Reuters)