Tuesday, October 07, 2008

US economic woe could sink Cambodia's garment industry

High U.S. tariffs hurt Cambodian garment sector

PHNOM PENH, Oct. 7 (Xinhua) -- High U.S. tariffs are hurting Cambodia's garment sector, with the industry complaining that high import costs and a slowing U.S. economy could sink the Kingdom's key industry, state media reported Tuesday.

In 2007, Cambodia paid 419 million U.S. dollars in tariffs on 2.46 billion U.S. dollars worth of exported goods, meaning the industry is paying an average 17 percent tariff, the Phnom Penh Post said, citing a new report by the Progressive Policy Institute, a centrist U.S. think tank.

The average U.S. tax on imports is 1.3 percent, while Saudi Arabia pays only 0.1 percent on the goods it exports to the U.S., the Post said.

Cambodia has already seen a 500 million U.S. dollars drop in exports to the U.S. in the first eight months of this year compared to the same period last year, said Kaing Monika, external affairs manager at the Garment Manufacturers Association of Cambodia (GMAC).

He added that the sector has suffered a loss of about 20,000 workers.

Garments have been hard hit by the U.S. slowdown, with clothing sales down in 2008.

Cambodia sells about 70 percent of its clothing to the U.S. market, making it highly vulnerable to fluctuations in the U.S. economy and Washington's trade policies.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Cambodian GDP growth depend heavily on Garment and a little from tourism and Agriculture sector.
During election campaign, Hun Sen leveraged a lot on the two digit growth to attract electorate. But, as economist, If we look deeper, Cambodia is very vulnerable to any world economy turbulence due to its lack of economy infrastucture & solid foundation & long term vision. By the way, the two digit growth was profited only by a couple of high ranking people and very little to the rest of population in Rural Area,

Economist's Obeserver

Anonymous said...

tiger losed teeths that can 't eat. caused buy one get one free.
no down payment you can get the house .
sleep and stay ,keep one eye on

May god bless all of us

Anonymous said...

So how about.. the taxes of import of new
car into cambodia?
Where these money go?
And a lots of things... are
very strange in Cambodia...
Who dare to ask the government all the monies they made?
How much and each sectors?
Corruption over corruption...
A lots of CPP high rank members
are rich. How they made money?
Corruption, casions, game....
who know?