The manufacturing sector, which contributed between 14% and 19% of GDP during the review period, remains heavily
dependent on labour-intensive garmen production. From the mid 1990s, the manufacture of clothing, mostly for export,
grew rapidly and, by 2010, 319,000 workers were engaged in the sector. The garment industry accounts for two thirds of the manufacturing sector (12% of GDP) and 80% of Cambodia's export revenue. Historically, improving labour standards and working conditions have generally helped garments exporters to maintain export contracts and stave off the competitive threat from other low-cost manufacturers in the region. However, the outlook for Cambodian garment exports is clouded by structural changes in the market and to lagging competitiveness. Unit prices for Cambodian garments continue to decrease as a result of aggressive competition, particularly from China, Viet Nam, and Bangladesh. Furthermore, growth margins in the garment industry have narrowed with the expiry, at the end of 2008, of safeguard
measures imposed on China by the United States and the EU.