PHNOM PENH, Sept. 14 (FN) — Cambodia has seen a trade deficit of 24 percent equivalent to 1.74 billion U.S. dollars in the first seven months of 2016, according to the Commerce Ministry' s figures on Wednesday.

Total import and export volume was valued at 12.73 billion U.S. dollars during the January-July period this year, up 9 percent from the 11.67 billion U.S. dollars over the same period last year, the figures said.

Export surged by 8 percent to 5.49 billion U.S. dollars, while import rose by 9.7 percent to 7.23 billion U.S. dollars, leading to the trade deficit of 1.74 billion U.S. dollars.

Garment and footwear products are the main items that the Southeast Asian country exports, representing about 80 percent of the kingdom's total export.

The country's key trading partners include European countries, the United States, China, South Korea, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore and Malaysia.