BANGKOK, July 26 (Xinhua) -- Thailand's exports contracted for the first time in three months in June, weighed down by a reduced market supply of fruits as the harvesting season reached its final stage, official data showed on Friday.

Exports, a key driver of the Southeast Asian country's economic growth, edged down 0.3 percent last month from a year earlier to 24.79 billion U.S. dollars, a strong reverse from a revised 6.9 percent jump in May, according to the Ministry of Commerce.

Exports of agricultural products dropped 2.2 percent, despite robust growth in rice and rubber shipments, while agro-industrial goods declined 4.8 percent.

Industrial product shipments expanded 0.3 percent, mainly owing to growth in computer and telephone products.

The data also showed that Thailand's imports edged up 0.3 percent from a year earlier to 24.57 billion dollars in June, resulting in a trade surplus of 218 million dollars.

For the first half of 2024, exports rose 2.0 percent to 145.29 billion dollars, while imports picked up 3.0 percent to 150.53 billion dollars, yielding a trade deficit of 5.24 billion dollars.

Thailand's exports are expected to sustain a positive trend in the remaining months of the year, boosted by export of agricultural and food products and expansion of the digital economy, the ministry said in a statement.

The ministry maintains its target for exports to grow between 1 percent and 2 percent this year after the kingdom's exports fell 1 percent in 2023.