The World Bank in its Cambodia Economic Update issued earlier this month said that the country’s Cambodia’s exports to the United States are more diversified than those to the EU.

It said that for the U.S. market, while exports of GTF products (garment, travel goods and footwear) continue to capture the largest share, they account for only 59.1 percent, compared to 80.9 percent in the EU market.

The second, third, and fourth largest non-GFT export items destined for the U.S. market are wood products/furniture (5.2 percent), electrical/vehicle parts and cables (4.5 percent), and bicycles (3.8 percent), respectively.

The shares of these higher value-added non-GTF products continued to be relatively small due to Cambodia’s structural weaknesses, which include high logistics and energy costs, and a skills gap.

Goods exports to the United States, Cambodia’s largest export market, accounting for 45.6 percent of total exports, continued to be strong. Goods exports to the United States reached $6.4 billion, with a whopping y/y rise of 37.0 percent during the first 8 months of 2022, despite expiration of the U.S. Generalized System of Preferences program on December 31, 2020, reauthorization of which is pending U.S. congressional approval.

Since 2020, the United States has been Cambodia’s largest export market. The share of the U.S. market in total goods exports rose quickly to 45.6 percent in 2022, from 27.6 percent in 2019 at the expense of that of the European Union (EU) market, which declined to 19.8 percent from 28.1 percent during the same period, partly affected by the partial withdrawal of the EU’s Everything but Arms preferential treatment, effective August 12, 2020 (impacting approximately 20 percent of Cambodia’s exports to the EU).

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Author: World Bank

Source: Khmer Times

Publication date: 12 December 2022