Exports for June were down 3.38% on the same month last year to stand at US$19.10 billion, permanent secretary for commerce Vatchari Vimooktayon said on Friday.
Imports for the month totalled US$21.01 billion, up 3.01% on June 2012, for a total trade deficit of US$1.91 billion, she said.
Exports in the first six months of the year (Jan-June) stood at US$113.30 billion, up 0.9% from the same period last year, Mrs Vatcharee said.
Imports were up 4.32% to US$129.07, resulting in a total trade deficit of US$15.77 billion, she added.
The global economic slowdown, particularly in Thailand’s major export markets - particularly the Netherlands, United Kingdom, Belgium, France, Italy, the US, China and Japan - had lowered demand for Thai products, she said.
The permanent secretary said imports of machinery and parts were also down due to the recession affecting the country’s trade partners, domestic economic slowdown and a slowdown in the construction sector with the budgets for financing the government’s development megaprojects still awaiting approval from the parliament.
Mrs Vatcharee admitted that the 2013 export growth target of 7-7.5% would not be achieved and that the target would be revised.
She expected exports to grow by about 3% this year, nearly the same as last year’s expansion rate.