Cambodia's garment exports grow 17.5% in Jan-March'13

05 Jun '13

1 min read

The exports of garments and textiles from Cambodia have grown by 17.5 percent year-on-year to reach US$ 1.34 billion during the first three months of the current year, data released by the Ministry of Commerce shows.

Since Cambodia depends on imports for textile raw material to stitch apparels, the imports of textiles and garments by the country during January to March 2013 rose by 18.3 percent year-on-year to US$ 753 million.

The robust growth in both imports and exports of textiles and garments during the first quarter of 2013, points at expansion of the garment industry in Cambodia.

The Southeast Asian country is benefiting from its low labour cost, and buyers are increasingly placing orders in the Kingdom, mainly due to rising minimum wage in China.

Last year, Cambodia exported apparels worth US$ 4.61 billion, registering a growth of nine percent compared to exports of US$ 4.24 billion made in 2011.

Cambodia exports its apparels mainly to the US and the EU, while it depends on Asian countries, especially China, South Korea and Japan for its imports of textile raw materials.

The garment sector is the main foreign exchange earner for Cambodia, accounting for about 80 percent of the country’s overall exports.

Fibre2fashion News Desk - India

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