For as long as Cambodian rice farmers can remember, their product has had an unsavory reputation. Tough, dirty and unmilled, it was impossible to cook evenly, and even farmers traded it as pig feed in exchange for cash or better-quality rice from Vietnam or Thailand. Even ...

World Bank President Jim Yong Kim said yesterday that climate change will be a concern in some Asian countries, including Cambodia. He encouraged the countries to find ways to manage any affects on their economies. Economists recognize it will lower growth in some main sectors of the economy – ...

CAMBODIA’S trade with South Korea grew 38 percent in the first half of 2011 on the same period last year, according to Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KORTA) statistics. The growth is partly due to increasing numbers of South Korean importers seeking business in Cambodia, KOTRA’s ...

Destruction of Cambodia’s forests is one of the biggest threats to the country’s ability to effectively deal with the effects of climate change, the UN warned in a new report to be released today. Cambodia is one of the most vulnerable countries in the region ...

Phnom Penh’s growing population is driving demand for residential property, with approvals soaring in the first seven months of this year, according to Lao Tip Seiha, director of the construction department at the Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction. A total of 227 ...

Cambodian garment and textile exports increased nearly 20 per cent in the first eight months of 2011 compared to the same period last year, according to Ministry of Commerce figures. The Kingdom exported US$2.35 billion in garments during the period, a 19.6 per cent increase over ...

Some commercial banks could increase loans to the agricultural sector this year, according to industry insiders who cited improvements in the sector and a rise in crop prices. Cambodian farmers lack the capital needed for inputs such as seeds and fertiliser, while domestic rice millers often ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday extended indefinitely a ban on commercial fishing in Tonle Sap lake, citing ongoing illegal fishing to the detriment of local villagers. The premier had first imposed the ban on 35 fishing lots in the lake in August, as a result of ...

Eight SET international (SI) schools have closed nationwide over the past two months because of financial problems, and the remaining two schools in Phnom Penh and Kompong Chhnang provinces also appear poised to shut their doors soon, a Ministry of Education official said. The abrupt closings ...

The PetroVietnam Fertilizer and Chemicals Joint Stock Company (PVFCCo) officially inaugurated its branch in Cambodia on July 29 with an aim to sell products directly to local farmers. Since the establishment of its representative office in Phnom Penh in May 2010, PVFCCo, an affiliate of ...

More than 150 companies from China, Taiwan, Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia, as well as Germany and England on Thursday set up shop at the exhibition center on Phnom Penh’s Koh Pich island, displaying everything from $900 labeling machines to sewing machines worth $56,000 that automatically attach ...

Workers at a garment factory that was temporarily shut after more than 200 women collapsed in two mass fainting incidents last week gathered yesterday at the facility in Kampong Speu province for a Buddhist ceremony intended to rid the factory of evil spirits. Pheng Songoun, a ...

Angered by the clearing of parts of Prey Long forest, several hundred indigenous minority villagers marched on a rubber plantation here in northern Kompong Thom province yesterday night and breached its gate in order to demand that the company stop cutting down trees in the ...

Cambodia’s total exports rose more than 40 per cent year-on-year through October, carried by strong growth in agriculture shipments. Total exports reached US$4.05 billion in the first 10 months of 2011 compared with $2.82 billion during the same period last year, an increase of 44 per ...

Kampong Thom province About 500 frustrated villagers, citing the authorities’ inaction as their motivation, rode some 250 motorbikes into Prey Lang forest over the weekend in yet another effort to combat illegal logging they say is decimating the area. The villagers from four provinces surrounding Prey Lang ...

Cambodia’s Minister of Defense Tea Banh on Monday dismissed suspicions that his government had reneged on accepting an offer from the U.S. to upgrade buildings at a naval base in Preah Sihanouk province because it plans to host Chinese military assets at the site. In a ...

Despite recent announcements of large development projects throughout Cambodia focusing on so-called “affordable housing” for the emerging middle class, there remains a massive gap in the market for quality affordable housing for the poor; especially the urban poor as more rural Cambodians flock to cities ...

The government will not increase the rate for income tax and other taxes for the next two years, but will instead concentrate on expanding the base for tax collection, taking into account that there are still many individuals and businesses that do not pay tax ...

Authorities are not investigating last week’s restaurant shooting in Koh Kong province, in which the province’s governor said that a nephew of Prime Minister Hun Sen was a suspect. Koh Kong governor Bun Leut said on Thursday that Nhim Pov, a nephew of Mr. Hun Sen, ...

Threats of strike from about 500 employees of the Tropicana Casino in Poipet were quieted yesterday as workers secured a small victory after management agreed to improve worker conditions and enter talks over their sacked union leader. Morm Rithy, president of union Cambodian Tourism and Service ...