TAIPEI - TAIWAN said on Tuesday that exports in June fell 30.40 per cent from a year earlier, but there were hopes for the economy as the rate of slowdown eased due to growing demand for its key electronic products.

Shipments for the month totalled US$16.95 billion (S$24.7 billion), down $7.39 billion year-on-year, in the tenth consecutive fall, the finance ministry said. May saw a 31.4 per cent year-on-year drop.

Earlier data showed June imports dropped 33.50 per cent from a year earlier to $15.18 billion, the island with a trade surplus of $1.76 billion, the ministry said. That figure is up 16.9 per cent year-on-year.

Exports to China and Hong Kong fell 30.20 per cent from a year earlier to $7.06 billion, but were up $310 million from May as buying of machinery and electronic products picked up.

Sales of electronic goods fell 17.30 per cent to $4.58 billion over the same period, an improvement on the 18.6 per cent dive reported in May.

Lin Lee-jen, director of the ministry's statistics department said: 'Exports will return to growth in November, partly due to a lower base of comparison last year, if there is no further change to or impact' on the global economy.

She said she expected demand from China for Taiwan's technology goods to remain strong.

Shipments to the US were 29 per cent lower at $1.87 billion and sales to Japan fell 18.6 per cent to $1.22 billion.

In the first half of 2009, exports fell 34.20 per cent to $88.49 billion from a year ago while imports were down 42.3 per cent to $53.51 billion. -- AFP