Cambodia’s apparel exports to its major markets, Europe and North America, fell by 36.6 percent and 51.4 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2023, respectively, according to B2B portal Fibre2Fashion’s market insight tool TextPro.
Total apparel export value was $2.07 billion, Fibre2Fashion said on Monday, noting that most of the regions Cambodia served saw a drop in trade in the quarter compared to the corresponding period last year.
It noted that the European shipment contracted to $733.3 million from $1.16 billion a year ago while North American exports, including to the US, was worth $664.5 million versus around $1 billion in the first quarter of 2022.
The export value of these two markets for the first quarter this year represented 35.5 percent (Europe) and 32.2 percent (North America) of the total shipment, it said.
Meanwhile, exports to Asia Pacific saw the “mildest” decline, slipping 6.3 percent to $570.3 million from $608.8 million last year, with the latest value accounting for some 27.6 percent of the total shipment. Cumulatively, the three markets make up 94 percent of Cambodia’s total apparel exports.
Fibre2Fashion said regions comprising the Middle East, Central and South America, and Africa were minor markets for Cambodia's apparel.
For the full year 2022, Cambodia's total apparel exports amounted to $14.03 billion, up 26.4 percent from $11.1 billion in 2021.
