Cambodia-Japan Trade Tops $180M in January

Cambodia-Japan Trade Tops $180M in January

Bilateral trade between Cambodia and Japan rose 2.1 percent to $181 million in January this year, compared to the same month in the previous year.

The Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) figures showed that Cambodia exported $142 million worth of goods to the East Asian nation, a 1.7 percent increase compared to the same month last year.

The Kingdom imported $39 million worth of goods from Japan, a 3.5 percent year-on-year increase.

JETRO listed garments and electrical and electronic components as key Cambodian exports to Japan; and machinery, electronics and high-tech products as the main imports.

The Cambodian Ministry of Commerce has stated that the Kingdom aims to establish bilateral free trade agreements with its major trading partners, including Japan.

In February, the Ministry of Commerce and the Japan-Cambodia Association discussed studying the possibility of establishing a free trade agreement to strengthen cooperation between the two countries and promote a better business environment.

Commerce Minister Pan Sorasak said Japan had made significant contributions to Cambodia’s economic development through the rehabilitation of infrastructure, the provision of human resource development programmes, the strengthening of economic relations in trade and tourism and investments in other sectors.

He said that Japanese investors have also brought the flow of technology, knowledge, and skills from Japanese foreign direct investment (FDI) and Official Development Assistance (ODA).

The ministry’s spokesman Penn Sovicheat said that a working group had been formed to talk bilaterally to Japanese sides over the possibility of establishing a free trade agreement.

“The bilateral trade between Cambodia and Japan showed significant growth, and the bilateral, diplomatic and other cooperation is good. These are easy to precede the talk on the possibility of establishing a free trade agreement,” Sovicheat said.

Last year, the two-way trade volume reached $2,332 million, according to JETRO. Cambodia exported $1,752 million worth of goods to Japan last year, a year-on-year increase of 8.4 percent. Khmer Times