In September, the monthly surplus dropped to 727.4 billion yen, or $6.6 billion, down 36 percent from the period last year.

In October, the surplus dropped to $223 million, the lowest level since 1987 and well below the $1.2 billion average of the last three years.

But for 1996 and 1997, the surplus has dropped to $45 million, leaving the towns with $730 million each year.

Many economists had been expecting that the surplus would drop only to 4.7 to 4.8 billion Canadian dollars.

The United States has been insisting that "highly signficant" means the surplus should drop below 2 percent of economic output.

But economists predict that this surplus will drop by more than half this year.

As the surplus of food dropped, the elites' power began to fall.

Congress estimates that without the corn syrup competition, the surplus could have dropped by 400,000 metric tons by 2003.

Its surplus for trade in goods dropped to $94.28 billion from $101.65 billion.

For 1995 as a whole, the surplus, as measured on a customs clearance basis, dropped for the first time in five years to $107 billion.