The vast majority of the indigenous peoples living in Ratanakiri are subsistence farmers, who are planting rice, corn, pumpkins etc. Some of them grow an additional catch crop such as peanuts or cashews. There is quite a number of wealthy Cambodians and Vietnamese, who own large plantations surrounding the capital of Banlung. Most of them plant peanuts, coffee, or cashews.

Additionally, Ratanakiri boasts hundreds of square miles of lucrative rubber plantations, of which rubber is mostly exported to neighbouring Vietnam. Due to the present reconstruction of the Cambodian National Highway 19, which runs through the center of the capital of Banlung, the area’s trade with Vietnam will soon rise. Anyhow Ratanakiri is so sparsely populated that the Provincial capital does not have an adequate market compete to other provinces of Cambodia. But in mineral wealth alone, Ratanakiri boasts gold, gemstones, granite and onyx. Fertile red soil, water sources, wild animals and quality hardwoods abound and the weather and scenery are perennial assets.