Exports to US up 25 pct in Q1

18 May 2018 2108 | Cambodia Travel News

The Ministry of Commerce says that exports of garments and footwear have remained stable. KT/Ven Rathavong

Cambodian exports to the United States, the world’s largest economy, rose sharply during the first three months of the year following a marked increase in the shipments of travel goods after the US renewed its Generalized System of Preferences in March.

A spokesman for the Ministry of Commerce told Khmer Times yesterday that recent political tensions between Cambodia and the US over the dismantling of the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), the main political opposition until its dissolution in November, have not affected the trade relation between the countries.

Numbers from the Office of the United States Trade Representative show that Cambodian exports were worth $903 million during the first quarter of the year, compared to $719 million during the same period in 2017 – an increase of more than 25.5 percent.

Seang Thay, ministry spokesman, said the bulk of that growth belongs to travel goods, a category that has attracted a large number of investors after Cambodia was granted duty-free benefits for travel goods exports under the US’s GSP programme in 2016.

“Since we got the GSP on travel goods with the United States there has been a lot of investment into this industry,” he said, adding that another major factor in the strong export growth is that “investors understand very well that the country is very stable.”

Garment and footwear exports remained stable during Q1. KT/Ven Rathavong

Mr Thay added that orders of garment and footwear products have remain stable.

On March, US President Donald Trump signed the Consolidated Appropriations Act, which extended the country’s GSP programme, a scheme established in 1974 to promote economic growth in the developing world by allowing access to duty-free privileges for least developed countries. The extension will expire in December 2020.

Earlier this month, Vongsey Vissoth, Secretary of State for the Ministry of Economy and Finance, said Cambodia is in an ideal position to benefit from the recent tax reform in the US and its ongoing trade dispute with China.

“The tax reform in the US will boost its economy and create many new opportunities for Cambodian exporters. It could help us grow our GDP by as much as 0.5 percent,” he said.