TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese Trade Minister Masayuki Naoshima apologized for speaking about third-quarter GDP data to oil industry executives on Monday ahead of its official release.

"I'm sorry. I honestly didn't know it was due to be released at 8:50 a.m. (2350 GMT) so I thought it would be OK to talk about it," Naoshima told reporters.

"I apologize for causing trouble and I'll be careful from now on."

Naoshima added that he told the industry officials about the GDP figures because people were concerned about the state of the economy.

(Reporting by Tetsushi Kajimoto; Writing by Chris Gallagher; Editing by Rodney Joyce)