Vietnam has extended its 3,000-tonne duty-free quota for Cambodian dried tobacco leaves for 2021 to meet market demand, reports The Phnom Penh Post.

The extension is part of the renewal process of the Bilateral Trade Facilitation Agreement for 2021-2022, which was agreed at the 18th meeting of the Cambodia-Vietnam Joint Commission on 22 December and has yet to be formally ratified, with retroactive benefits for exports.
Cambodia and Vietnam signed the agreement in October 2016 to reduce import tariffs on dozens of products to boost bilateral trade and have renewed it every two years since. However, the goods covered in the deal are determined on a yearly basis.
The Kingdom exported 1,377 tonnes of dried tobacco leaves worth USD 4,197,500 to Vietnam last year, down 34.37 per cent, compared to 2,098 tonnes in 2019, the report said. Data from Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Veng Sakhon showed that Cambodia exported a total of 5,820.82 tonnes of dried tobacco leaves last year, down 14.02 per cent from 6,769.97 tonnes in 2019.
The outbound shipments were worth USD 17,462,460, a decrease of 28.34 per cent compared to 2019’s USD 24,371,874.72. Buyers of the leaves are Vietnam, Indonesia, Hungary, the UAE, Belgium, South Africa, Greece, Singapore and Germany.