TOKYO (AFP) ― Japan’s trade deficit more than quadrupled in June from a year ago as the country logged another dip in exports, extending a string of monthly declines in shipments overseas to two years, data showed Thursday.

The deficit stood at 822.2 billion yen ($8.1 billion) in June, ballooning from a year-earlier shortfall of 180.5 billion yen and blowing past market expectations for a deficit of 684.7 billion yen. Exports fell 2 percent year-on-year to 5.94 trillion yen while imports rose 8.4 percent to 6.76 trillion yen. Imports have jumped in the wake of the Fukushima accident in 2011 when the country shut down its atomic reactors and turned to fossil-fuel imports.