Cambodia's footwear exports slip 27%, shipments to US nose dive

Cambodia's footwear exports have seen a 27.29 per cent decline, amounting to $1,814.208 million during January-October 2023, compared to $2,495.565 million in the same period last year. In 2022, the country's footwear exports were valued at $2,944.064 million. The US, as Cambodia's largest footwear market, experienced a sharp drop of 42.76 per cent in shipments during the first ten months of the current year. 

Cambodia shipped footwear worth $2,944.064 million in the previous year, marking a significant increase of 41.60 per cent from the $2,079.259 million exported in 2021, according to Fibre2Fashion’s market insight tool TexPro. 

During January-October 2023, Cambodia exported footwear worth $537.118 million to the US, which accounted for 29.61 per cent of its total footwear exports during this period. Consequently, the world's largest economy remains Cambodia's primary footwear market. The substantial decline in Cambodia's footwear exports is primarily attributed to sluggish shipments to its largest market. Compared to January-October 2022, exports to the US dropped by 42.76 per cent. However, during the same period in the previous year, there was a remarkable increase of 63.92 per cent in shipments compared to January-October 2021, as per TexPro. 

Among the top five markets for Cambodia's footwear exports, Japan accounted for $176.079 million (9.71 per cent), Germany for $153.012 million (8.43 per cent), Canada for $122.594 million (6.76 per cent), and the Netherlands for $105.683 million (5.83 per cent). Exports to all these countries have experienced declines of up to 28.58 per cent during this period. 

France (4.14 per cent share), China (3.54 per cent), South Korea (3.39 per cent), Belgium (2.68 per cent), and the Czech Republic (2.52 per cent) were the other top 10 markets for Cambodia's footwear shipments. 

ALCHEMPro News Desk (KUL)