Malaysia export boom eyed after H1 drag

Malaysia export boom eyed after H1 drag

 

The Cambodian business community is largely confident that exports to Malaysia will see appreciable gains in the coming years, underpinned by a wave of new investors from ASEAN’s third-largest economy, as the Kingdom pushes to upgrade production chains as well as expand and diversify its export basket.

This affirmation comes after the General Department of Customs and Excise of Cambodia (GDCE) reported that the Kingdom’s trade deficit with Malaysia for the first half (H1) of 2022 expanded by an astonishing 67.88 per cent to $222.310 million.

For reference, bilateral trade between the two countries over the January-June period grew by 42.03 per cent year-on-year to $325.601 million – Cambodian exports to Malaysia edged up just 6.67 per cent to $51.645 million, while imports ballooned by 51.50 per cent to $273.955 million.

Keo Mom, director-general of industrial park developer Kampong Seila Special Economic Zone Co Ltd, told The Post on August 3 that the majority of the goods that Cambodia exports to Malaysia are produced by foreign-owned entities.

The current advancements made by Cambodia in production technology, processes and controls will bolster the value of the Kingdom’s exports to Malaysia, and play a part in attracting investors from there, contended Mom, who is also CEO of LY LY Food Industry Co Ltd (Lyly Food), one of the Kingdom’s largest food processors.

Although acknowledging the lacklustre performance of Cambodian exports to Malaysia, Mom stressed that the Kingdom is exploring ways to enter new export markets and unlock further expansion into its existing ones.

Moreover, she said, improvements in diplomatic and trade relations between the two countries –bilaterally and regionally, as well as within the ASEAN framework – have steadily pushed up their overall goods trade volumes.

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Author: Hin Pisei

Source: The Phnom Penh Post

Publication date: 03 August 2022