Phnom Penh, Jan 21: Cambodia's trade volume with its fellow ASEAN member states reached $15.69 billion in 2024, up 12.4 per cent from 13.96 billion dollars in the year before, said a Ministry of Commerce's report on Tuesday.
The kingdom exported products total worth 5.07 billion dollars to other ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations) countries last year, up 7.6 per cent from 4.71 billion dollars a year earlier, the report said.
Meanwhile, the country's total import from its fellow ASEAN countries amounted to 10.62 billion dollars, up 14.8 per cent from 9.25 billion dollars, it added.
Cambodia's trade volume with the ASEAN accounted for 28.3 per cent of the kingdom's total trade volume of 55.3 billion dollars in 2024, the report said.
Cambodia's top five trading partners in ASEAN during the above-mentioned period were Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia, Xinhua news agency reported.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet has said that the country stood as a vibrant partner within the ASEAN, adding that made-in-Cambodia products, such as garments and bicycles, were recognised in ASEAN and worldwide for their quality and competitive pricing.
"Cambodia's strategic membership in key regional and global trade agreements, including ASEAN and the World Trade Organization (WTO), positions it as a highly integrated player within the dynamic global market," he said.
ASEAN comprises Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.
Additionally, Cambodia exported garments, textiles, footwear and travel goods worth $13.92 billion in 2024, up 23 per cent over a year earlier, the ministry said.
Garments exports stood at 9.79 billion dollars last year, a year-on-year increase of 24 per cent, the report said, adding that textiles worth 499 million dollars were shipped to international markets, up 17 per cent.
Also, 1.68 billion dollars worth of footwear was exported, up 23 per cent, while travel goods equivalent to 1.95 billion dollars were sold to international markets, up 19.6 per cent, the report added.
Hoe Ee Khor, chief economist of the ASEAN+3 Macroeconomic Research Office (AMRO), said the garment, footwear and travel goods sector remained one of the key drivers for Cambodia's economic growth.
"Growth in the sector rebounded steadily in 2024, driven by stronger demand for consumer goods in major advanced markets," he wrote to Xinhua in a recent e-mail.
The industry is the largest foreign exchange earner for the Southeast Asian country.
The sector currently consists of about 1,538 factories and branches, employing approximately 913,000 workers, mostly women, according to the Ministry of Labor and Vocational Training's latest report.
