Cambodia’s exports of garments, footwear and travel (GFT) goods grew by around 15 percent in 2022 compared to the previous year.

The GFT sector is the largest export earner for the country, accounting for 56 percent of the total exports last year. Among GFT goods, exports of footwear grew by 24 percent in 2022 compared to the previous year, while non-knitted apparel articles went up by 21 percent, travel goods by 17 percent and knitted apparel articles by nine percent.

But Cambodian exporters don’t expect orders to revive until mid-2023 as retailers in Europe and the US have just too much stock from unsold goods of the previous seasons. Moreover, the Ukraine war and inflation have pushed global garment demand down.

The continued progress of the GFT sector was crucial for Cambodia during the Covid pandemic. The sector accounted for 11 percent of the economy and contributed around 50 percent of Cambodia’s real GDP growth in 2021. This indicated that the GFT sector had been functioning relatively well throughout the Covid pandemic while other sectors such as tourism suffered greater setbacks.

GFT exports have averaged over 70 percent of Cambodia’s total merchandise exports over the past decade and more.