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/
As US Economy Slows, Investment in Asean Nations Necessary
Siem Reap City – With a host of uncertainties still hanging over the U.S. economy, more than 100 American businesses—the largest delegation to ever visit Cambodia—gathered here over the weekend, and all of them were in agreement about one thing: The slowdown in the U.S. ...
Cambodian TV Fails to Cover Protests
Viewers of local television on Sunday would have had no idea the opposition CNRP was staging a mass protest, during which violent clashes with police occurred and water cannons and tear gas were used. Instead, anyone tuned into state-owned TVK or the pro-government broadcasters CTN, CNC, ...
Kim Chan and Dene-Hern Chen
http://Cambodian TV Fails to Cover Protests
Ministry focuses on early education
The Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport will on Monday launch “Komar Rien Komar Cheh”, an early childhood education programme supported by USAID, Global Partnership for Education (GPE), Unesco, Unicef and many other NGO partners. The event will be presided over by Minister of Education, Youth ...
Voun Dara
https://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/ministry-focuses-early-education
Youth urged to join STEM fest
Minister of Education, Youth and Sports Hang Chuon Naron encouraged youths to participate in the annual Cambodia STEM Festival, which is held online from January 25-29. This year’s theme is “Prepare for the Future” because Cambodia will need an increase of professionals in science, technology, engineering ...
Voun Dara
https://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/youth-urged-join-stem-fest
New Kampot Salt Farm Has Big Ambitions
TOEK CHHOU DISTRICT, Kampot province – A donor-backed project launched here on Saturday aims to produce Cambodia’s first export-quality sea salt and invigorate the struggling local salt industry. In a ceremony among Kampot’s vast fields of coastal saltpans and low levees, company representatives from Asia Salt ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/new-kampot-salt-farm-has-big-ambitions-20505/
Moody's: Cambodia's rating constrained by narrow economic base, policy limitations
Global rating agency Moody’s Investors Service said Thursday that despite rapid growth, the small size and the narrow diversification of Cambodia’s economy constrained its B2 rating. The limited effectiveness of monetary policy due to a high rate of dollarization was also a rating constraint, the rating ...
Xinhua News Staff
http://www.china.org.cn/world/Off_the_Wire/2013-08/22/content_29799938.htm
Shift in focus for donors may spell trouble: study
Dwindling donor funding for combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis could have a critical impact on low-income countries like Cambodia, a new study has found, with some health workers in the Kingdom saying that the squeeze is already being felt. ...
Yesenia Amaro
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/shift-focus-donors-may-spell-trouble-study
Government prepares housing plan for poor
The Royal government through Ministry of Land Management, Urban and Construction held a workshop with local and international organizations and real estate companies to design strategic and financial planning for housing project for low-and-medium-income people, especially vulnerable group. ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/government-prepares-housing-plan-for-poor-8992
Government prepares housing plan for poor
The Royal government through Ministry of Land Management, Urban and Construction held a workshop with local and international organizations and real estate companies to design strategic and financial planning for housing project for low-and-medium-income people, especially vulnerable group. ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/government-prepares-housing-plan-for-poor-8992
Booming growth pushes Cambodia to lower-middle income status
Despite some appearances to the contrary, things in Cambodia are looking pretty rosy at least according to the World Bank. In its latest revision of world economies the Bank raised Cambodia’s status from a low-income economy to a lower-middle income country. ...
Vat Vin
http://aecnewstoday.com/2016/booming-growth-pushes-cambodia-to-lower-middle-income-status/
Poverty causes trafficking to China, says report
A report published last week by the UN Action for Cooperation Against Trafficking in Persons (UN-ACT) says the main cause of human trafficking from Cambodia to China was a lack of jobs and low wages, forcing many young women to look at opportunities abroad. ...
Tin Sokhavuth
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/29214/poverty-causes-trafficking-to-china--says-report/