PHNOM PENH, Nov. 7 (Xinhua) -- Garment and footwear industry, Cambodia's largest foreign exchange earner, has seen a 6.9 percent increase in exports in the first half of 2017, according to the data released by the Ministry of Labor on Tuesday.
The Southeast Asian country exported apparel and footwear products in equivalent to 3.73 billion U.S. dollars during the January-June period this year, up 6.9 percent from 3.49 billion U.S. dollars over the same period last year, the data said.
Garment and footwear items accounted for over 70 percent of the country's total exports, and key markets for the products are European countries and the United States.
Labor Minister Ith Samheng said the continued growth was thanks to buyers' confidence in product quality and labor conditions in Cambodia.
"The buyers are satisfied with garment and footwear products exported from Cambodia because we make those products with proper respect for working conditions and with no labor exploitation," he said, adding that moreover, the manufacturers always delivered products on schedule.
The garment and footwear industry consists of some 1,100 factories, employing more than 740,000 workers, and the monthly minimum wage for a worker is 153 U.S. dollars in 2017 and will be raised to 170 U.S. dollars in 2018.
