The Council for the Development of Cambodia (CDC) has approved Auspicious Bag and Shoes Accessories Co’s proposal to build garment factory at Kraing Makak in Ang Snuol district in the Kandal province. The factory will be built with an investment of $2.4 million and create 380 jobs. In the last few months, CDC has approved 10 new projects worth nearly $80 million. Most of these projects involve setting up factories for garments, travel bags and footwear.

The industry ministry reported closing of 101 factories in Cambodia last year, most of them in the garment sector. By mid-May this year, 27 factories had closed due to the COVID-19 outbreak and 75 had filed for bankruptcy. Cambodia’s exports to the United States totaled to over $3 billion in the first half of this year. That was a 35 per cent increase compared with the same period in 2020. A large part of the exports constituted clothing, bags and footwear.