The Hanoitimes - The trade value between Vietnam and Cambodia in the first five months rose by 41 per cent to more than US$1 billion, the Vietnam Trade Office in Phnom Penh said.
Vietnam's exports were worth $891 million, an increase of 139 per cent, while Cambodia's exports rose by just 3.2 per cent to $124 million.
Tran Tu, an attache at the Trade Office, said the robust growth in investments by Vietnamese companies in Cambodia was the main reason for the sharp increase in trade.
More than 330 Vietnamese firms operate in the neighbouring country, mainly in rubber cultivation, manufacturing, farm processing and health care. Regular promotional campaigns by Vietnamese companies also helped boost Vietnam's exports, Tu said. Steel, food,and chemical products were among its major exports, while Cambodia exported tobacco, rubber and seafood.
Cambodian exports to Vietnam only rose slightly since the high inflation in Vietnam was affecting demand, the English-language Phnom Penh Post newspaper quoted Kong Phutheara, head of the Cambodian Ministry of Commerce's Statistics Bureau, as saying. Cambodian Minister of Commerce Cham Prasidh attributed the surge in trade to the commitment by both countries to increase trade to $2 billion this year.
