Travel goods sector in Cambodia

 U.S Embassy in Phnom Penh: Duty Free Access for Travel Goods Made in Cambodia (Jul. 6, 2016)

On June 30, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) announced a major expansion of trade preferences that stands to bring significant benefits to Cambodia.  Under the new changes to the U.S. Generalized System of Preferences (GSP), Cambodia and other Least Developed Beneficiary Developing Countries (LDBDCs) as well as African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) countries producing travel goods such as luggage, backpacks, handbags, and wallets will be able to export those products to the United States duty free.   The GSP expansion will not only give Cambodia preferable access to the $10 billion U.S. import market in travel goods; it will also encourage further development of Cambodia’s textile industry into profitable new areas of production.

“This announcement by the USTR has the potential to open up an entirely new market for Cambodian exporters and to create thousands of jobs for Cambodians,” says U.S. Ambassador to Cambodia William Heidt.  “We encourage Cambodian manufacturers to take advantage of this new opportunity, which would help to diversify Cambodia’s economic base, spur economic growth, and alleviate poverty.”

Background on GSP Program

Under the GSP program, approximately 5,000 products from 122 beneficiary developing countries and territories, including 43 least-developed countries, are eligible for duty-free treatment when exported to the United States,  Nearly 1,500 of these products are reserved for duty-free treatment for LDBDCs only. In 2015, the total value of imports that entered the United States duty-free under GSP was $17.4 billion.

The Trade Preference Extension Act (TPEA) of 2015 gave U.S. President Barack Obama the authority to add certain travel and luggage goods products to GSP, subject to the regular, petition-driven review process.  The 27 Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) subheadings cited in the TPEA included luggage, handbags, backpacks, and pocket goods (such as wallets).

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In full: https://kh.usembassy.gov/duty-free-access-travel-goods-made-cambodia/

GMAC Bulletin 2018

In 2016, the United States has granted duty-free access for travel goods that are made in Cambodia. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said it’s a major expansion of trade preferences. Under the new changes to the U.S. Generalized System of Preferences (GSP), Cambodia producing travel goods such as luggage， backpacks, handbags and wallets are able to export those products to the United States duty free. The duty-free offer has the potential to open up an entirely new market for Cambodian exporters and to create thousands of jobs for Cambodians since previously Cambodia paid the tariffs of between 4.5 percent and 20 percent for travel goods exporting to the US.  There are currently 15 factories manufacturing travel goods in Cambodia and they export the products in equivalent to 150 million US dollars per annum to the US market. Further growth prospect is very strong in the coming years.  Major items are travel/bags, handbags/purses, backpacks, luggage/brieface.

In full: https://www.gmac-cambodia.org/public/pdf_file/1503973387.pdf

 

Khmer Times (Oct. 21, 2020): Travel goods export expected to reach $1 billion in 2020

Cambodia’s export of travel goods and bags are expected to rise to about $1 billion in 2020 while the number of factories producing the products increased to 101.

Speaking at a meeting on the implementation of Better Factories Cambodia (ILO-BFC) project for travel goods and bag factories and enterprises Ith Samheng, Minister of Labour and Vocational Training, noted the remarkable progress of the sector which will provide more job opportunities and contribute to the economic development of Cambodia.

With the growth of travel goods and bag factories, Mr Samheng called on them to carry out the ILO-BFC project by registering as members to gain benefits such as incentives for purchase orders exporting to markets with tax preferences offered.

In full: https://www.khmertimeskh.com/50775212/travel-goods-export-expected-to-reach-1-billion-in-2020/