China remains top supplier of raw materials to Cambodia's garment industry: PM

PHNOM PENH, March 22 (Xinhua) -- Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen said on Wednesday that China is the largest supplier of raw materials to the kingdom's garment industry.

"For us, a garment manufacturing country, we import more than 80 percent of fabrics from China," he told a graduation ceremony of some 4,700 students at the Vanda Institute in Phnom Penh.

"Cambodia acquires raw materials from China to make clothes in our country and we export finished products to other countries," he added.

Hun Sen also praised China for supplying raw materials to Cambodia in time, even during the COVID-19 pandemic era, thanks to the close relationship between the two countries.

Garment is the biggest foreign exchange earner for Cambodia, generating hundreds of thousands of jobs for local people, mostly women.

The Southeast Asian nation exported garment products worth 9.03 billion U.S. dollars in 2022, accounting for 40.1 percent of the kingdom's total export of 22.48 billion dollars, according to a report from the General Department of Customs and Excise.