Cambodia's bike exports rose last year, reaching $300 million in value, Prime Minister Hun Sen announced yesterday.

Speaking at a trade conference in Phnom Penh, the prime minister was confident that Cambodia could maintain its current export rates in traditional markets while expanding into other industries.

“In 2013, the value of exports of garment products was more than $5 billion. Besides this, exports of footwear, bicycles, electronic equipment, rice and rubber are all among the new products that are strongly on the rise,” he said.

According to trade publication Bike Europe, Cambodia, helped by trade preferences, stood out in the first half of 2013 as one of the few nations to increase bicycle exports to the EU. While most bike-supplying countries to Europe saw a drop, Cambodia exported close to 800,000 units in the first six months of last year, up from 520,000 in the first half of 2012, Bike Europe reported.