Thailand
Cambodia: China largest raw material supplier to Kingdom
China is the largest supplier of raw materials for Cambodia’s garment industry, accounting for about 80 percent of the total requirement and has been contributing to keep the production chain busy even during the Covid-19 pandemic, said Prime Minister Hun Sen.
China is the largest supplier of raw materials to garment-producing countries including Cambodia, the Prime Minister said at a graduation ceremony in Phnom Penh on Wednesday.
“More than 80 percent of raw materials for the garment sector are imported from China to Cambodia and those materials are important for producing finished products for exports,” the premier said.
Cambodia has a trade deficit with China due to the huge import of raw materials for garments, he said.
Garment, footwear and travel goods industry is the largest foreign exchange earner for Cambodia. The sector consists of roughly 1,100 factories and branches, employing approximately 750,000 workers, mostly female.
The Prime Minister recalled the situation during the pandemic, saying that the garment manufacturing production chains were largely paused due to the lack of raw materials. However, Cambodia received raw material from China helped the production chain.
In 2022, Cambodia exported a total of $22.4 billion worth of goods, up 16.4 percent from a year ago, and imported $29.9 billion, up 4.3 percent, according to data from the General Department of Customs and Excise of the Ministry of Economy and Finance.
Cambodia exported garment, footwear and travel goods products worth $12.63 billion in 2022, up 14.9 percent from $10.99 billion a year earlier, said the report.
The country’s main export products to China were milled rice, bananas, mangos, cassava, fishery and apparel, while it imported mostly garment raw materials, machinery, vehicles, food, electronics, medicines, etc.
Lim Heng, vice president of the Cambodia Chamber of Commerce, said that the close relationship between the governments of Cambodia and China has provided fruitful for the economy, investment, and trade.
The pandemic impacted the manufacturing sector in countries across the world, but the production chain in Cambodia received increasing purchase orders for garment products, he said.
“The implementation of bilateral free trade agreement, and mega-regional trade pact -RCEP will give Cambodia the possibility of exporting agricultural products to China and attract investment flows from China,” he said.
Source: https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501261475/china-largest-raw-material-supplier-to-kingdom/