Affordable houses for all
A public housing project, which aims to provide affordable housing for the lower middle class, low-income earners and state workers, is due to start at the end of the year after the completion of a study to determine its feasibility. ...
Sum Manet
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/26739/affordable-houses-for-all/
Revised rubber export tax scheme criticised
Rubber producers said yesterday the government’s decision to amend the export tax scheme on natural rubber fell short of expectations and would do little to stem the losses of farmers as rubber prices hover near a six-year low. ...
Sor Chandara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/revised-rubber-export-tax-scheme-criticised
RDB closes bidding on rice storage facilities
The state-run Rural Development Bank (RDB) received a total of 10 proposals from Cambodian agricultural firms expressing interest in developing rice storage and drying facilities across three provinces using government-backed low-interest loans, a bank official said yesterday. ...
Cheng Sokhorng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/rdb-closes-bidding-rice-storage-facilities
Agriculture minister goes on defensive
Agriculture Minister Veng Sakhon yesterday defended his ministry amid complaints by farmers of low yields during dry season, rising costs of production and a lack of markets to sell their produce, saying that other ministries and sectors also shared responsibility. ...
Touch Sokha
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/agriculture-minister-goes-defensive
Asean property markets beckon investors
Aliwassa Pathnadabutr, managing director of property consultant CBRE Thailand, said prime residential property for rent in the Cambodian capital has posted the highest yield among all sectors at 8% per year. Selling prices remain relatively low, but rents are high. ...
Kanana Katharangsiporn
http://www.bangkokpost.com/business/news/1124901/asean-property-markets-beckon-investors
Unions to Form Committee to Focus on Minimum Wage
The leaders of seven major unions and labor confederations announced yesterday in a joint statement that they will form an inter-union committee to rally the government on raising the country’s minimum wage of $61, with the unions believe is too low. ...
TI calls for reforms at polls
Low-income factory workers and illiterate citizens risk being left behind in the country’s voter registration process if current policies remain unchanged, Transparency International Cambodia warned yesterday, as it forwarded a list of recommendations to the National Election Commission. ...
Vong Sokheng and Ethan Harfenist
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/ti-calls-reforms-polls
Fight Illegal Logging From Top, World Bank Says
Echoing longstanding calls from conservation groups, the World Bank says in a new report today that governments need to look past low-level criminals to tackle illegal logging and to follow the money the illicit trade generates instead. That trade of illegal logging generates up to $15 ...
Fake fertiliser cuts crop yields
FARMERS’ crop yields are being undercut by unregistered middlemen selling fake fertiliser, and government efforts to combat this have proved ineffective, according to independent research from the Cambodia Development Resource Institute (CDRI). CDRI’s preliminary research, conducted as part of a larger program investigating agricultural policies for ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013030161683/Business/fake-fertiliser-cuts-crop-yields.html
Controversial Pöyry tapped for Xayaburi
Multinational consulting and engineering firm Pöyry has signed a contract with the Lao government to supervise construction of the divisive Xayaburi hydropower dam in the country’s north, it announced Friday. This work, carried out by its Energy Business Group, will include reviewing the design and ...
Kingdom boasts less time to file trademark
While still relatively small, the number of trademark applications has grown in Cambodia and the country’s low volume means that the Kingdom boasts among the fastest times in Southeast Asia for registering a trademark, a government adviser told a business workshop yesterday. ...
Sor Chandara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/kingdom-boasts-less-time-file-trademark
Hun Sen laments impact of foreign competition in rice sector
Cambodia’s rice industry faces a plethora of challenges—both internal and external—that have led to low prices and prevented exporters from achieving a lofty tonnage target set by the government in 2010, Prime Minister Hun Sen said on Monday. ...
Kang Sothear and Anthony Jensen
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/hun-sen-laments-impact-of-foreign-competition-in-rice-sector-106387/
Rice bank project awards contracts
Thaneakea Srov (Kampuchea) Plc, the recipient of a low-interest $15 million loan from the state-run Rural Development Bank, inked contracts yesterday with three companies to build and outfit its massive 200,000-tonne capacity silo and warehouse facility in Battambang province. ...
Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/rice-bank-project-awards-contracts
Productivity cuts into growth
Cambodia’s GDP growth fell below the 7 percent mark for the first time since 2011 last year, signalling a need for the government to address the country’s low productivity and insufficient public infrastructure spending, according to a World Bank report released yesterday. ...
Matthieu de Gaudemar
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/productivity-cuts-growth
High feed costs driving people away from snakehead farming
One year after lifting a decade-old ban on snakehead fish farming, the number of aquatic farms growing the fish remains surprisingly low, with the high cost of feeding them driving many away from what could otherwise be a very lucrative business. ...
Chea Vannak
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/5088049/high-feed-costs-driving-people-away-snakehead-farming/
Cambodia finds new target for real estate: Chinese investors
Across this traditionally low-rise Cambodian capital, a building boom is becoming more noticeable as it pushes higher into the sky, and its largest projects are often geared towards Chinese investors, who have only recently taken interest in the nation’s real estate market. ...
Chris Horton
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/09/business/cambodia-real-estate.html
Angry villagers chase Vietnamese fishermen down Mekong river
Following a two-hour low-speed boat chase down the Mekong River in Kandal province early Thursday morning, some 100 angry villagers led by a local opposition official detained five Vietnamese nationals they say have been using illegal fishing techniques for the past three months. ...
Ben Sokhean
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/angry-villagers-chase-vietnamese-fishermen-71455/
Garment factories, unions edge closer to wage deal
Some of the unions that have been demanding a hefty $77 raise to the current monthly minimum wage of $100 for the country’s garment workers said Thursday they were willing to go as low as a $35 increase, though others refused to budge. ...
Mech Dara and Zsombor Peter
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/garment-factories-unions-edge-closer-to-wage-deal-70154/
Union Law worries garment sector investors from Hong Kong
A visiting delegation from the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong, which handles tens of billions of dollars in regional investment, says it raised concerns about the low threshold for forming unions in a pending new law during meetings with government officials Monday. ...
Zsombor Peter
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/union-law-worries-garment-sector-investors-from-hong-kong-91376/
Decline in price of rubber leaves farmers scrambling
For Sam Phat and her family, the decision 10 years ago to plant rubber trees on their hectare of land was an easy one. Because of booming demand, mostly from China, rubber prices were high, and the startup cost of planting trees was low. ...
James Reddick and Ros Chanveasna
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/14261/decline-in-price-of-rubber-leaves-farmers-scrambling/