Importing from China to Cambodia: RCEP, ACFTA and customs duties 2026

China is Cambodia's leading supplier, with 13.43 billion dollars of Cambodian imports in 2024, according to the United Nations Comtrade database as consulted via Trading Economics, updated in September 2026. Knitted or crocheted fabrics come top, at 2.02 billion dollars, ahead of electrical and electronic equipment, 1.30 billion, and machinery, 1.21 billion.

This flow feeds first and foremost Cambodia's garment industry, which re-exports a large share of these textile inputs to Europe and the United States once made up. Our sources do not give a precise breakdown of Chinese imports by end use: this should be checked with the General Department of Customs and Excise, the GDCE.

Cambodia and China signed a bilateral free trade agreement in 2020, according to research summarising relations between the two countries. Our sources do not specify the exact date the text entered into force, nor the detail of the tariff lines covered: this should be checked with the Cambodian Ministry of Commerce before drawing any tariff conclusions for a given line.

Above this bilateral agreement sit two regional frameworks. The ASEAN-China Free Trade Area, the ACFTA, signed on 4 November 2002 in Phnom Penh by eleven heads of government, brought duties on 7,881 product categories, around 90% of goods traded, down to zero, on a timetable running until 2015 for Cambodia as one of ASEAN's least developed members. A renegotiated version, ACFTA 3.0, concluded negotiations in 2024 and is set to widen coverage to services, investment, the digital economy and the green economy. Cambodia also applies the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, RCEP, in force for Cambodia since 1 January 2022, which aims to eliminate around 90% of customs duties between signatories over twenty years and to remove duties and quotas entirely on more than 65% of trade in goods from the moment it enters into force.

Since 1 December 2024, China has in turn granted duty-free access to goods from the least developed countries with which it maintains diplomatic relations, including Cambodia, which benefits Cambodian exports without changing the duties Cambodia levies on goods entering its own territory.

Cambodian customs duty ranges from 0 to 35% depending on the tariff line, within the framework of the gradual reduction commitments made under ASEAN, according to PwC Tax Summaries. For goods of Chinese origin, the rate actually applied depends on the interplay of the bilateral agreement, RCEP and ACFTA, which can bring this duty down to zero for a large share of lines, subject to a valid certificate of origin.

VAT is added to the customs duty, at 10% of the customs value plus duties levied, according to the same source. A special tax on certain goods, often referred to as the ISC, the Specific Tax on Certain Merchandise and Services, also applies to a list of products, calculated on a base that already includes customs duty. PwC Tax Summaries also mentions a 0.1% stamp duty on certain import contracts and a public lighting tax applicable to imported alcohol and tobacco. Our sources do not give a detailed schedule by tariff line for customs duty or the special tax: this should be checked with the GDCE before ordering.

A Cambodian customs clearance file brings together, in its most common form, a customs declaration filed with the GDCE, the commercial invoice, the packing list, the bill of lading or air waybill, and, to benefit from a preferential rate under ACFTA, RCEP or the bilateral agreement, a properly completed certificate of origin.

Our sources do not give a complete official list of products subject to an import licence in Cambodia, nor detail the exact role of the CamControl inspection body for a given import: these points should be checked with the Ministry of Commerce and the GDCE before placing an order for a sensitive product, whether food, chemical or otherwise regulated.

The Sihanoukville Autonomous Port remains Cambodia's only deep-water port, and the Phnom Penh-Sihanoukville corridor accounts for around 75% of the country's commercial traffic, according to data compiled on the subject. Its container traffic reached 641,842 TEU in 2020, up from 255,378 TEU in 2012, the latest public figure found in our sources, to be updated with the port authority.

The city is also home to the Sihanoukville Special Economic Zone, backed by Chinese investors with support from China's Ministry of Commerce and the Export-Import Bank of China: it counted 174 factories and more than 30,000 jobs in March 2020, with production shifting from consumer goods towards machinery, photovoltaic materials and chemicals. A Chinese-financed motorway now links Phnom Penh to Sihanoukville, in service since 2023, which shortens the journey between the capital and the port.

Cambodia shares a land border with Vietnam and Thailand, two countries through which part of the freight of Chinese origin transits, particularly for urgent shipments or goods already cleared in a neighbouring country before onward carriage by truck. Our sources do not give a verifiable volume or lead time for this land route, nor for a direct rail corridor from China: the Laos-China Railway stops at Vientiane, and our sources do not confirm any organised logistics extension through to Cambodia. This point should be checked with a freight forwarder before choosing between the sea route via Sihanoukville and a land route via a neighbouring country.

From southern China, sea freight most often leaves from Guangzhou, Shenzhen or Yantian towards Sihanoukville. FOB ex southern China suits cases where the Cambodian buyer organises transport; CIF or CFR where an intermediary handles it as far as the port; DDP remains inadvisable unless the Chinese seller is itself an accredited customs declarant in Cambodia.

On payment, standard practice remains a deposit followed by a balance before shipment, paid exclusively into the Chinese company's business account, never a personal account: a change of bank details received by email should always be checked by a direct phone call before any transfer.

A first order follows a precise sequence: specification document, factory verification, approved sample, proforma invoice with the chosen Incoterm, certificate of origin prepared to make use of ACFTA, RCEP or the bilateral agreement, production monitoring, pre-shipment inspection, freight to Sihanoukville, then customs clearance by the customer or their local freight forwarder on arrival.

Sorva is a sourcing and trading house based in Guangzhou, in the Tianhe district, backed by a Chinese subsidiary whose business purpose covers buying, reselling and exporting goods, and a parent company in France. Our Chinese-speaking team finds and vets factories, arranges visits and samples, negotiates prices, has quality checked before loading, and organises freight to Sihanoukville, while gathering the documents needed for a valid certificate of origin. Sorva never acts as the official importer in Cambodia and does not clear goods locally. Our base offer is invoiced in dollars, with options specific to the region quoted on request.