| 

Cambodia's garment exports to ASEAN negligible after 4 years of RCEP

ASEAN is a bloc of Asian countries, including Brunei Darussalam, Burma, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. RCEP, signed in **** with China&#**;s leadership, includes ASEAN countries along with New Zealand, Australia, Japan, and China itself. The trade pact mandates free trade within RCEP members. In the context of textile and garment trade, China, Cambodia, Indonesia, Thailand, and Vietnam are major exporting nations, while New Zealand, Australia, Japan, and China are key importers of textile products. However, major traditional garment-importing countries, particularly in Europe and North America, are not part of this trade pact.

Despite the trade agreement, Cambodia’s garment exports to ASEAN countries remain very low. In the first eight months of the current year, only *.** per cent of Cambodia&#**;s total garment exports of $*.*** billion were shipped to ASEAN countries, according to Fibre2Fashion&#**;s market insight tool TexPro.