With the opening of 149 new garment and footwear factories in Cambodia last year, as many as 141 old one shut down, says a Labour Ministry report. Based on these figures, the country's garment and footwear industry remained vibrant, it is learnt.

The garment and footwear industry, which is the kingdom's biggest foreign currency earner, consists of around 1,000 factories employing 754,000 workers. Current minimum wage for the workers is 153 U.S. dollars per month. Ministry of Industry and Handicraft has estimated that the Southeast Asian country exported garment and footwear products worth 6.9 billion U.S. dollars in 2016, thus registering an increase of 4.5 per cent year-on-year.