Cambodia’s textile exports to the United States grew by % in the first half

According to data from the Cambodian Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF), Cambodia’s exports to the United States accounted for 64% of total exports in 2007, of which $2.5 billion in textile exports to the United States accounted for 99% of total textile exports. Since Cambodia and the United States signed a trade agreement in 1996, the United States has become Cambodia’s largest exporter of textiles.
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In the first half of 2008, Cambodia’s textile exports to the United States were US$1.4 billion, an increase of 7% compared with the same period in 2007, but it was still far lower than the growth rate of China and Vietnam’s textile exports to the United States in the same period. According to Cambodia’s current and future export product project plans, textiles are still the largest source of foreign exchange for Cambodia. In order to face the strong competitive pressure from other countries around the world in exporting textiles, Cambodia should strengthen investment in improving production technology, reducing production costs, and improving textile quality. Only by improving labor conditions and on-time delivery can we compete with textiles from other countries.
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According to the analysis of economic experts, Cambodian textiles still have a place in the United States, mainly because Cambodia has low-cost labor, has established textile brand trademarks after many years of exporting to the United States, and the workplace conditions in the textile industry are better than those in China and Vietnam. In addition, Cambodia currently has 300 Most of the garment and textile factories are fully foreign-owned or cooperate with foreign businessmen, so it should be easy to improve production technology.