It is worth noting that Vietnam and Cambodia bilateral trade totals $8.7b in the first eight months of 2026. This represents a year-on-year increase of 8.3%.
The pace is keeping both governments on track to reach their goal of 20 billion dollars in annual trade. Bilateral trade in 2025Â hit a record 11.3 billion dollars.
Vietnamese Customs data showed shipments to Cambodia increased by 13.8% to $4.3 billion in the January-August period. Imports from Cambodia were $4.4 billion, an increase of 3.4% in the same period. Vietnam is Cambodia’s third biggest trading partner, its second biggest supplier of imports and second biggest destination for exports.
Supply Chains and Commodity Movements
As part of Vietnam and Cambodia bilateral trade, Vietnam supplies Cambodia with industrial inputs as well as finished goods, including textiles and garments, fertiliser, steel, footwear components, animal feed, paper products, plastics and industrial equipment. Cambodia exports agricultural commodities and inputs over the border. Vietnam’s exports are focused on 14 main product groups, including cashew nuts, natural rubber, cassava, rice, timber, and fresh produce, as well as textile materials.
The flow is an integrated supply chain, not simple merchant trade. Cambodian farms produce raw commodities. Vietnamese processors pack those goods and sell them through domestic retail channels or export them abroad. By combining Cambodia’s agricultural base with Vietnam’s processing capacity and transport network, better margins can be achieved than from raw trade alone.
Investment capital as well as manufacturing footprint
Vietnamese companies have 223 registered investment projects in Cambodia with a total committed capital of nearly 3.4 billion dollars. They work in agriculture, manufacturing and telecommunications. Together, they employ tens of thousands of workers in Cambodia’s border provinces and industrial hubs.
Cross-border manufacturing enables firms to spread production risks and keep freight costs lower than those of distant East Asian supply routes. But there are still regulatory hurdles to overcome. Customs procedures, technical standards and speed of clearance are still different on each side of the border.
Border infrastructure and transport links
Border infrastructure has grown to cope with a rise in heavy commercial goods. Officials opened the Khanh Binh-Chrey Thom international border gate on October 3, 2026, connecting Vietnam’s An Giang province with Cambodia’s Kandal province. This followed the opening in late 2025 of the Meun Chey-Tan Nam crossing between Tay Ninh and Prey Veng.
Now planners are working to link the Ho Chi Minh City-Moc Bai motorway to the Bavet-Phnom Penh motorway corridor. This highway link will cut travel time between southern Vietnamese ports and the Cambodian capital. It will also lead to lower freight rates and help develop industrial parks along the route.
Alignment of Policy at the Top
Government leaders discussed economic relations at the Vietnam-Cambodia Business Forum in Phnom Penh on October 9, 2026. Vietnamese Prime Minister Le Minh Hung and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet reached an agreement to look over trade agreements and clear obstacles at the border.
Negotiators are scheduled to meet again before the end of 2026 to review cross-border trucking authorizations and protocols when it comes to customs data exchange.
