According to the Finance Ministry, the country's trade deficit stood at 78.7 billion yen (538 million U.S. dollars) in the recording period, with exports falling for the first time in 29 months by 0.3 percent to 8.73 trillion yen.
Meanwhile, imports declined for the fourth consecutive month to 8.8 trillion yen, down 13.5 percent year on year, the ministry's preliminary data showed.
Market watchers here believe that the year-on-year decline in exports threw doubt on the economy's prospects for growth, just a month after Japan recorded its first trade surplus in over two years.
In a breakdown of sectors, exports of mineral fuel, semiconductor-related manufacturing equipment, and electronic components logged significant drops, while the export value of automobiles continued to grow.
In July, Japan booked a trade surplus of 845.92 billion yen with the United States, marking a year-on-year growth for the sixth consecutive month.
Meanwhile, the country ran a trade surplus of 253.7 billion yen with Asia, down 35.7 percent year on year, and booked a 20.7-billion-yen deficit with the European Union, the data showed. (1 U.S. dollar equals 142.32 Japanese yen)
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