Cambodia’s GFT exports surge 25%, trend to continue in 2025
Cambodia’s GFT exports surge 25%, trend to continue in 2025
Cambodia’s exports of garments, footwear and travel goods (GFT) surged by 25.23 percent in the first eleven months of this year, compared to the same period last year, earning the country $12.51 billion, the latest trade data of the General Department of Customs and Excise (GDCE) showed.
As much as 52.3 percent of Cambodia’s total export earnings of $23.93 billion in the January to November 2024 period came from GFT goods. The rising trend is expected to continue into the next year as well, according to industry leaders.
Talking to Khmer Times yesterday, Ken Loo, the Secretary General of the Textile, Apparel, Footwear & Travel Goods Association in Cambodia (TAFTAC), expressed confidence about the current trend continuing into the next year.
“Our exports to all major markets are up. Global demand recovery is contributing to the momentum and investments from other countries such as Myanmar and China in Cambodia also helped,” Loo said.
According to him, the current geopolitical situation favours Cambodia. “The fear of US President-elect Donald Trump imposing additional tariffs on made-in-China exports has resulted in manufacturers currently based in China looking to move both investment and production to other countries,” Loo noted.
Apparently, other geopolitical uncertainties such as the Russia-Ukraine and Israel-Hamas wars have not affected the demand from major markets like the US and Europe for Cambodian GFT goods.
It may be noted that the GFT sector, the biggest export earner for the Kingdom, made a turnaround this year after declining continuously for nearly 18 months from mid-2022 till the end of 2023.
The turnaround brought a big relief for the Cambodian government which was providing monetary support for the workers in the sector who lost jobs following factory closures or suspension of work.
According to the latest trade data, all segments under the GFT sector performed well in the January to November period this year, raising their exports, compared to the same period last year.
Accordingly, the exports of knitted apparel articles and clothing accessories earned $6.1 billion, registering a growth of 22.7 percent, compared to the January-November 2023 period. Non-knitted apparel articles brought in $2.83 billion with a growth of 33.3 percent year-on-year. Articles of leather and travel goods brought in $1.87 billion in the first eleven months this year, an increase of 22.1 percent year-on-year. Footwear exports earned another $1.5 billion during this period with a growth of 24.3 percent over the same period.
Other made-up textile articles earned $187 million from January to November 2024, registering a growth of 37 percent, compared to the same period last year.
In November 2024 alone, the GFT exports earned the country $1.32 billion, a rise of 46 percent, compared to November 2023 when the exports earned only $909 million.
The GFT sector is one of the biggest employment generators in the country and has created nearly one million direct jobs, according to the International Labour Organisation (ILO). The sector accounted for 11 percent of the economy and contributed around 50 percent of Cambodia’s real GDP growth as per its estimates in 2021.
The current trend indicates that GFT exports from Cambodia in 2024 could surpass the 2022 level as well.
Cambodia, meanwhile, is facing stiff competition from other Asian countries such as Bangladesh in the GFT sector. Bangladesh increased its garment exports by 10 percent in 2023 to an all-time high of $47 billion, four times that of Cambodia.
This also calls for skills development in the sector in Cambodia, mainly to increase the productivity of workers.
