PHNOM PENH, July 10 -- Cambodia-China trade has enjoyed strong growth in the first half of 2024, said an official report released on Wednesday.

The two-way trade volume hit 7.31 billion U.S. dollars during the January-June period this year, significantly up 18.8 percent from 6.15 billion dollars over the same period last year, said the General Department of Customs and Excise's report.

China remained the top trading partner of Cambodia, followed by the United States, Vietnam, Thailand, and Japan, the report said.

Cambodian Ministry of Commerce's Secretary of State and spokesperson Penn Sovicheat said the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement and the Cambodia-China Free Trade Agreement (CCFTA) have been catalysts for this trade growth.

"Under the two free trade pacts, our products, especially high-quality agricultural produce such as milled rice, yellow bananas, mangoes, longans, cassava and pepper, have been exported to China with preferential tariffs," he told Xinhua.

Kin Phea, director general of the International Relations Institute of Cambodia, a think tank under the Royal Academy of Cambodia, said Cambodia and China have enjoyed strong economic and trade relations for years, and the scale of bilateral trade has expanded steadily.

"The RCEP and the CCFTA have played a significant role in unleashing trade dividends," he told Xinhua. "The increase in their bilateral trade has provided greater benefits to the two countries and peoples, injecting stronger impetus into building a Cambodia-China community with a shared future."