Cambodia reports $390m trade deficit in 2 months

Cambodia has recorded a trade deficit of 23 percent in equivalent to 390 million U.S. dollars in the first two months of this year, according to the figures of the Ministry of Commerce on Thursday. Total import and export volume was valued at 2.95 billion U.S. dollars during the January-February period this year, up 9 percent from 2.7 billion U.S. dollars over the same period last year, the figures said. Export surged by 13 percent to 1.28 billion U.S. dollars, while import rose by 6 percent to 1.67 billion U.S. dollars, leading the trade deficit of 390 million U.S. dollars. The country's main trading partners are the United States, European countries, China, South Korea, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore and Malaysia. Cambodia exports mostly garments and shoes, dry rubber, milled rice and cassava chips and it imports raw materials for garment production, petroleum, construction materials, automobiles and motorcycles, food items and pharmaceutical and cosmetic products. Apparel products accounted for more than 80 percent of the country's total exports. Last month, the country launched a five-year trade integration strategy, aiming at boosting exports so as to reduce trade deficit. At the launching, Prime Minister Hun Sen said the country's exports of goods and services increased by more than twofold in the last seven years from 4.5 billion U.S. dollars in 2007 to 9.4 billion in 2013. He said Cambodia's key products need to be broadened promotion overseas including garments, footwear, bicycles, processed food, fisheries products, milled rice, cassava, rubber, tourism and silk products.