Cambodia’s Handwoven Mats

Photo by Soeun Say

By KAMPONG CHAM
The Phnom Penh Post

The tradition of handloom exists in all parts of Asia. In Cambodia, hand woven mats have provided income, in some places, for five generations. At the height of the business, weavers could produce and sell 8 to 10 mats a day, selling around 200 to 250 mats per month, and even more during the wedding season.

The mats would sell for $4.00-$7.50 USD, which to Americans sounds like a very reasonable price for hand woven goods. The problems that Cambodian weavers are now facing are the economic crisis and the importing of Thai and Vietnamese machine woven alternatives which sell at lower prices.

Sales of the hand woven mats have decreased by 50% and as a result production is slowing down. Although the weavers would like to lower their prices to compete with the foreign machine made products, they are already making such a low profit margin that they cannot sell the mats for any less.

Instead of giving up, the weavers of Cambodia are petitioning the government for outside marketing advice. They hope that by integrating new designs and updating the old ones, they will attract customers back to their product.

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