Will IKEA be Heading to Cambodia?

Local Cambodian media this week suggested that Swedish investments are being pursued by the Cambodian Ministry of Commerce, with IKEA and Volvo targetted. Cambodian Minister of Commerce Pan Sorasak apparently urged the outgoing Swedish ambassador, Björn Häggmark, to encourage investors from the Scandinavian country reported the Khmer Times and Phnom Penh Post. IKEA is the world’s largest furniture retailer and has more than 400 branches in 49 countries, including outlets in Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand. Among the industries Sorasak highlighted primed for investment were:

• Tropical foods and fruit processing.
• Auto-parts processing.
• Furniture and components.

The Cambodia Chamber of Commerce vice-president Lim Heng added that trade and investment relations between the two countries were still low. Cambodia-Sweden trade in 2020 was worth $64 million, whereas the bilateral trade value from January- May 2021 failed was $23 million reported the PP Post. Sorasak also thanked the outgoing Swedish ambassador for the "Swedish government’s cooperation in key areas, including trade, education, civil service capacity building and public-private partnership support in Cambodia" said the Khmer Times. There was no statement from the Swedish embassy on the possibility for the major brands such as IKEA venturing into Cambodia at this point.