Air cargo volume in Cambodia is set to grow in the coming years as the Kingdom’s exports begin to diversify away from garments, an aviation expert said yesterday.

Speaking during a Eurocham-organised presentation on air cargo, Chloe Lapeyre, general manager of Phnom Penh International Airport, said the volume of air freight shipments from Cambodia had increased 36 percent year-to-date as of May.

“Out of the most imported and exported goods from and to Cambodia, there are a limited number of categories that have a high reliance on air transportation,” she said.

She explained that Cambodia was seeing growing amounts of electronics exports since 2015, particularly LED screens for mobile phones.

“We have seen a high growth of electronics exported from Cambodia recently . . . now it has a strong reliance on air cargo, mainly driven by Minebea,” she said, referring to the Japanese electronics manufacturer with a factory on the outskirts of Phnom Penh.

In 2016, Phnom Penh airport recorded 46,000 tonnes of goods leaving Cambodia by air, and the amount is expected to reach 60,000 tonnes in 2025 and 100,000 tonnes by 2045, according to Lapeyre.