Cambodia now 6th largest garment exporter in world

By Phy • April 24th, 2008

The news report came as a great surprise to me when I received it from a friend in Nagoya. Below is the whole report I would like to quote for our discussion.

PHNOM PENH, Dec. 11 (Xinhua) — Cambodia has become the sixth largest garment exporting country in the world, the Chinese-language newspaper the Commercial Daily reported on Tuesday.

The newspapers quoted government spokesman Khieu Kanharith as saying that the pillar industry creates job opportunities for some 500,000 people in Cambodia. The spokesman made the remarks while paying a visit to Kampong Cham province.

Total monthly salary for the workers in the garment sector amounts to 300 million U.S. dollars, one million of which are remitted to their families in the countryside, said Kanharith, who is also Information Minister.

However, he said, the manufacturers have to import most equipment and raw materials, which increases their production cost.

Rural Cambodians should try to help produce more raw materials for the industry, he added (emphasis added).

70 to 75 percent of the kingdom’s annual export volume come from garment export, according to official statistics.

Source: Xinha, Cambodia places 6th largest garment exporter in world

The government spokesman is right that rural Cambodians should try to help produce more raw materials for the industry. With the government’s technical and financial support, rural Cambodians would be more capable of doing the task to contribute to the development.

What can the government do to support Cambodian farmers technically and financially is another story. Of course, we are aware that the government does not have enough fund for this purpose. The friend from whom I got the link to the article suggested that the state institution(s) in charge should take the initiative and propose it to donors. He mentioned that their low salary may not give them enough incentive to do so but argued how “self-motivation” of the Japanese people after the World War II has made Japan what it is today. The government officials in the Ministry of Agriculture may want to take this suggestion into account. Or at least, they should try to find a better way to go about the matter.

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