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Cambodia’s export to RCEP countries up 5 percent at $5.6B
Cambodia exported $5,671 million worth of goods to the members of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) countries in eleven months of last year, an increase of 5 percent compared to the same period last year, data from the Ministry of Commerce showed yesterday.
Cambodia’s top three export RCEP destinations were Vietnam, China and Japan with shipped products worth $1,894 million, $1,109 million, and $1,069 million, respectively.
The Kingdom’s export to ASEAN nations amounted to $2,921 million, an increase of 10 percent.
China is the biggest market for goods imported to Cambodia with a total of $9,470 million, followed by Vietnam, Thailand and Singapore with $3,617 million, $3,542 million, and $3,169 million, respectively.
The RCEP free trade agreement entered into force on January 1, 2022.
The regional trade pact comprises 15 Asia-Pacific countries including 10 member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) — Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam — and their five trading partners, namely China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand.
The mega trade pact has given a big boost to Cambodia’s export and attracted new investment to Cambodia, contributing to the economic development, said Lim Heng, vice president of the Cambodia Chamber of Commerce.
“Export to the RCEP countries is Cambodia’s potential market and will complement the markets of EU and America under the trade preferences – EBA and GSP,” Heng told Khmer Times.
Cambodia is expected to see its export growth in years to come, he said.
The mega-regional pact will eliminate as much as 90 percent of the tariffs on goods traded among its signatories over the next 20 years.
Cambodia expects to see export growth between 9.4 percent and 18 percent, which will contribute to the national economic growth between 2 percent and 3.8 percent, stated the Ministry of Commerce.
Being the world’s largest trade bloc, the RCEP trade deal has a combined GDP of $26.2 trillion, representing around 30 percent of the global GDP, 28 percent of global trade, and 32.5 percent of global investment.
Noting that RCEP is an important mechanism to safeguard the rules-based multilateral free trade system against the trends of anti-globalization and protectionism, Prime Minister Hun Sen has announced Cambodia’s commitment to host the RCEP Secretariat in Phnom Penh, aiming for functional cooperation and mutual support to fully implement the RCEP agreement to maximise the benefits.
The export to the RCEP countries amounted to $28,407 million, accounting 28 percent of the total export amount to the world at $20,458 million and imports from RCEP countries accounted for 59 percent of Kingdom’s total import at $48,205 from the world during the period.
Source: https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501213231/cambodias-export-to-rcep-countries-up-5-percent-at-5-6b/