PHNOM PENH: Cambodia's exports topped US$20.49 billion in the January-November period of this year, an increase of 1.2 percent compared to the same period last year, a report of the General Department of Customs and Excise showed.

The top five export destinations for Cambodia during the said period were the United States of America, Vietnam, China, Thailand, and Japan.

The U.S. remained the Kingdom's biggest market during the first eleven months of this year with exports worth US$14 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 0.9 percent.

Exports to Vietnam rose by 37.8 percent, from US$1.89 billion to US$2.61 billion, while those to China saw a surge of 18.5 percent to US$1.31 billion.

The country's main products exported were apparel, footwear, travel goods, bicycles, and agricultural products such as rice, rubber, cassava, bananas, and mangoes.

The garment, footwear, and travel goods industry is the largest foreign exchange earner for Cambodia. The sector consists of roughly 1,133 factories and branches, employing approximately 840,000 workers, mostly female.

The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP)'s trade preference has the effect of stimulating more cross-border trade, investment, and flows of people, H.E. Sok Siphana, Senior Minister in Charge of International and Multilateral Trade and Economic Relations.

“RCEP has given a big market access to Cambodia's products and is the source of Cambodia's sustainable economic development in years to come,” he said in a lecture on “Analysis of Legal Aspects of Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, at the Ministry of Information on Nov. 21.

RCEP, which came into effect in 2022, comprises 15 Asia-Pacific countries including the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and their five trading partners, namely China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, and New Zealand.

Meanwhile, Cambodia's total imports came down by 5.4 percent to US$22 billion, the report pointed out.

The country primarily imports raw and construction materials, automobiles, pharmaceuticals, electronic equipment, fertilizers and pesticides.