According to statistics from the Cambodian Ministry of Commerce, Cambodia’s clothing and accessories exports in the first eight months of 2021 were US$5.02 billion, an increase of 3.3% from US$4.86 billion in the same period in 2020. During the same period, apparel product exports accounted for 45% of the country’s total exports of US$11.09 billion. The United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, and Japan are the main export markets for Cambodian clothing. The garment industry is Cambodia’s largest source of foreign exchange earnings. According to the Labor Department, the sector consists of about 1,100 factories and branches and employs about 750,000 workers, the majority of whom are women.
Despite the ongoing COVID-19 epidemic, exports of apparel products continue to grow, indicating significant progress in the apparel industry. Prime Minister Hun Sen recently stated that the Cambodian garment industry has received a large number of purchase orders, mainly due to the uncertainty in the supply chain caused by the recent outbreak of mutated virus strains in garment-producing countries such as Bangladesh, Myanmar, Brazil, and Vietnam.
The EU was once the largest destination country for Cambodia’s clothing exports. Since August 12, 2020, the EU has canceled some of Cambodia’s EBA (everything but weapons) trade preferential tariff treatment. Later, some Cambodian clothing and footwear products began to face EU import tariffs. Therefore, Cambodia’s share of apparel exports to the EU has shifted to the United States and other countries.
According to the 2020 performance report of the Cambodian Ministry of Commerce, Cambodia exported US$7.42 billion in clothing in 2020, a decrease of 10.2% from 2019. Lim Heng, vice chairman of the Cambodian Chamber of Commerce, said that the growth in Cambodia’s exports reflects that Cambodia’s production chain is well controlled and ensures continued operations amid the government’s efforts to contain the epidemic crisis. Through bilateral and multilateral free trade agreements, Cambodia is expected to attract more investment and will promote the export of finished products and the import of raw materials to supply the production chain.
In order to help the country’s clothing, footwear, travel luggage, and tourism industries cope with the downturn caused by the blockade and supply chain disruption caused by the epidemic, the Cambodian government has so far announced 8 financial support plan. Prime Minister Hun Sen has publicly stated on many occasions that Cambodia’s garment industry has been operating normally and purchase orders have increased significantly. This is because Cambodia is safer than other clothing manufacturing countries, has a higher vaccination penetration rate, and is relatively less affected by the epidemic.
