Non-garment sector marks significant growth

Non-garment sector marks significant growth

The Cambodian Industrial Development Policy 2015-2025 is playing a key role in boosting investment in technology in production chains, pushing the export of non-garment manufacturing products to increase.

Cambodia is experiencing a notable and sustained increase in the export of non-garment manufacturing products, a strong indicator of the Kingdom’s successful economic diversification strategy.

The non-garment manufacturing products include electronic components, auto parts, bicycle, car tyres, leather, plastic and other industrial products.

Data from the Ministry of Commerce showed that the exports of electronic goods and parts amounted to $287 million in the first five months of this year, up 2.4 percent over that last year.

The country’s export vehicle parts amounted to $117 million, up 18.3 percent, bicycle $287 million, up 46.9 percent, electric cable and wire $232 million, up 83.6 percent, and car tyre $560 million, up 81 percent.

Export of solar panels, however, saw a huge decrease of 99 percent to $3.87 million from $412 million recorded in the same period last year.

Penn Sovicheat, Secretary of State and spokesman at the Ministry of Commerce, said that the diversification strengthens the Kingdom’s export base and creates a wider range of skilled labour opportunities.

“As the garment industry remains vital and we continue to support its modernisation, the growth in other manufacturing areas demonstrates our success in building a more robust and sustainable economic future,” he said in a recent business forum.

The Ministry of Commerce, in close collaboration with other relevant ministries and private sector partners, has actively worked to attract foreign direct investment into these emerging industries, he added.

The Cambodian Industrial Development Policy 2015-2025 is playing an important role in boosting investment in technology in the production chains, pushing export of non-garment manufacturing products to increase.

Under the policy, the government is pursuing a policy of shifting from the labour-intensive but low-value-added garment sector at a time when Cambodia, as well as the world, is heading for a fourth-generation industrial revolution.

The non-garment manufacturing products are mostly produced by factories in special economic zones. The main markets for non-garment products are the EU, the US, Japan, Korea and Thailand.

From January to May 2025, there were 290 registered investments, an increase of 137 projects, or about 90 percent. Total investment capital reached $4.2 billion, a rise of $1.4 billion, or nearly 52 percent, compared to the same period in 2024, a report from the Council for the Development of Cambodia (CDC) showed.

Significant projects included an auto garage equipment manufacturing factory, a car tyre plant, a car assembly plant, an electric three-wheeler assembly plant, a medical equipment manufacturing factory, a solar power plant, a solar panel manufacturing factory, metal and aluminium processing plants, a dry port, and a tourism resort.

The government has been proactive in addressing the difficulties and challenges of the private sector for both domestic and foreign investors, Sun Chanthol, Deputy Prime Minister and First Vice-Chairman of the CDC, said.

Investment law, skilled labour, trade preference schemes and a newly launched investment approval system, allowing for one-click approval of investment projects and making the process faster and more streamlined for investors, are catalysts in attracting new investment, he added.

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