PHNOM PENH, Jan. 27 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia's total value of garment exports increased by 26 percent to 3 billion U.S. dollars in 2010 from 2.38 billion U.S. dollars in a year earlier, Pan Sorasak, secretary of state for the Ministry of Commerce, told reporters on Thursday.

"We saw that the economic situation last year was recovering well, our garment exports have increased almost as high as that in 2008," he said.

The main markets for Cambodian garments are the United States of America, European countries and Canada, he said. Last year, the export to the U.S. mounted to about 2 billion U.S. dollars and the rest to European countries, Canada and other countries.

"We have optimism that the exports of garment this year will be much higher than that of last year due mainly to the well recovery of the global economy and the recent amendment of law by the European countries, which is softer than before that is more favorable for Cambodia to export more garment to the markets," he said.

Besides these markets, Cambodia has also diversified its export targets to other countries such as Japan.

"Now, the amount of exports to Japan is still small, but in the future, we see it as a potential market for our garments and footwear products," he said.

Som Aun, president of the Cambodia Labor Union Federation, said Thursday that currently there are about 470 garment factories in Cambodia, employing about 300,000 workers.

He said the garment industry last year was quite better if compared with 2009 based on the number of factories closed and opened.

"We observed that only 51 factories closed and only 4 suspended productions, but up to 91 opened last year," he said. "Unlike in 2009, up to 90 factories closed, 55 factories suspended production, and only 47 factories opened."