Cambodia’s Exports Reach US$20.5 Billion in First 11 Months

date_range 12-Dec-2023
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Phnom Penh, December 12, 2023 --

Cambodia’s exports topped US$20.49 billion in the January-November period of this year, an increase by 1.2 percent compared to the same period last year, a report of the General Department of Customs and Excise showed.

The top five export destinations for Cambodia during the said period are the United States of America, Vietnam, China, Thailand and Japan.

The U.S. remained the Kingdom’s biggest market during the first eleven months of this year with exports worth US$14 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 0.9 percent.

Exports to Vietnam rose by 37.8 percent, from US$1.89 billion to US$2.61 billion, while those to China saw a surge by 18.5 percent to US$1.31 billion.

The country’s main products exported were apparel, footwear, travel goods, bicycles, and agricultural products such as rice, rubber, cassava, bananas, and mangoes.

The garment, footwear and travel goods industry is the largest foreign exchange earner for Cambodia. The sector consists of roughly 1,133 factories and branches, employing approximately 840,000 workers, mostly female.

The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP)’s trade preference has the effect of stimulating more cross-border trade, investment and flows of people, H.E. Sok Siphana, Senior Minister in Charge of International and Multilateral Trade and Economic Relations.

“RCEP has given a big market access to Cambodia’s products and is the source of Cambodia’s sustainable economic development in years to come,” he said in a lecture on “Analysis of Legal Aspects of Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, at the Ministry of Information on Nov. 21.

RCEP, which came into effect in 2022, comprises 15 Asia-Pacific countries including the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and their five trading partners, namely China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand.

Meanwhile, Cambodia’s total imports came down by 5.4 percent to US$22 billion, the report pointed out.

The country primarily imports raw and construction materials, automobiles, pharmaceuticals, electronic equipment, fertilisers and pesticides.