The pessimistic outlook will inevitably affect demand for precious metals such as gold, silver and platinum used in jewellery production, said Sanit Vorapanya, director general of the commerce ministry's department of export promotion.

However, the drop in exports is unlikely to undermine Thailand's position as a regional centre for the industry. Despite the fall in exports and short-term bearish outlook, jewellery is still ranked among Thailand's top 10 foreign exchange earners, Sanit said.

"It is unlikely that the (export) sales this year will reach the target of $2.0 billion because of the economic downturn," he told Reuters.

"But the slowdown will in no way hamper or undermine Thailand's position as a leading regional hub of diamond, precious stones and the jewellery industry," he said.Sanit was speaking ahead of the 28th World Diamond Congress to be held in Bangkok July 26-29.

Thailand's precious stones and jewellery exports during the first three months of 1998 totalled $356.3 million - a 23.6 per cent drop from the corresponding period in 1997.

But in baht terms, the value surged 41.8 per cent to 16.99 billion baht.The country is considered one of the world's top precious stone exporters and has a big diamond and stone cutting industry.

The fall in demand for precious stones has resulted in a drop of demand for precious metals. During the first quarter of 1998, Thailand imported 3.9 billion baht worth of gold, silver and platinum versus 4.4 billion baht in the same period last year. Of the total imports, 77.6 per cent were gold, 19.0 per cent were silver and 3.4 per cent platinum. The major sources for gold included Australia, Germany, Switzerland and Israel.

Silver was imported mostly from South Korea, Switzerland and Britain while platinum was bought from Japan, Germany,Singapore and Italy. Savaraj Sachchamarga, vice president of Bangkok Diamond and Precious Stone Exchange told Reuters that the lower-than-expected tourist turnover also affected sales.