Economy and commerce

Representatives from 25 trade unions Monday sent a request to the Ministry of Labor seeking several changes to a controversial draft union law and asking that a new $160 monthly minimum wage for the country’s volatile garment sector take effect in October. Garment factory owners say ...

Representatives from Cambodia Bayon Airlines (CBA), a newcomer to the domestic aviation market, yesterday promised domestic flights to be operational by the end of this year, pending approval from the country’s aviation authority. CBA’s vice president Taing Chun Leang yesterday told reporters that the firm is ...

Two of Cambodia’s largest financial service providers have reported declines in transactions stemming from key Thai border provinces as thousands of undocumented migrant workers continue to exit the neighbouring country. Third-party payments and remittance service Wing has seen a 3 per cent decline in the amount ...

Australians are among donors to a school charity in Cambodia where the director has been charged with arranging for foreign volunteers to sexually abuse teenage students. The scandal has focused new attention on the management of Cambodia’s orphanages and children’s charities and the deception used by ...

Cambodian farmers are looking toward a new organization to help them get the best prices for their rice, but many are skeptical disparities between farmers and traders can be overcome. The Cambodian Rice Federation was started in May, bringing together disparate companies, associations and farmers in ...

Days after a Phnom Penh garment factory refused to abide by an Arbitration Council decision in favour of its employees, more than 1,000 workers are expected to demonstrate in front of the Ministry of Labour today. ...

Rice farmers in Italy plan to block four major grain exchanges in the country this week over what they say is the European Union’s failure to keep Italian rice competitive against that of cheaper Asian rivals including Cambodia, which is given duty-free access to European ...

More than a year after it was established, the National Commercial Arbitration Centre (NCAC), Cambodia’s first third-party dispute resolution body, is finally ready to take on its first case. During its first annual assembly in Phnom Penh on Friday, the NCAC confirmed that it had finalised ...

Italian sportswear brand Kappa and U.S.-based retail giant Walmart apparently source clothing from the latest addition to the International Labor Organization’s (ILO) list of low-compliance factories, according to a union leader at the factory who provided the branded tags from the clothing her members cut ...

Cambodia has accelerated its agricultural growth dramatically over the last several years, but agricultural sector in this developing country still depends on its neighboring countries. What are the reasons behind this dependence? During these past years, many businessmen, both foreign and local, are investing a large ...

Nearly four years after it was established by the Commerce Ministry and one year on from its official launch, the National Commercial Arbitration Center (NCAC) held its first annual assembly Friday. The NCAC was set up in 2010 to provide businesses with an alternative to the ...

After years of ever-brisker sales, the smartphone market may be plateauing. Cambodians spent more than $300 million on smartphones last year, a 38 per cent increase from 2012’s figure of about $220 million, according to data from Singapore-based research firm GfK. Some 907,000 smartphones were sold in ...

More than 1,000 workers held a demonstration in front of Ocean Garment factory in the capital yesterday, burning tyres and blocking the road in protest against the management’s refusal to abide by a ruling that workers be paid in full for a one-month closure. On May ...

Berjaya Food Bhd’s share on Bursa Malaysia rose in early trade today following the announcement yesterday that it had incorporated a new subsidiary in Cambodia. As at 9.57am, the counter rose four sen or 2.45% to RM1.67, after opening at RM1.64, with 47,000 shares changing hands. ...

The Arbitration Council Foundation yesterday ruled that a Phnom Penh garment factory that announced it was closing for a month must pay employees 100 per cent of the wages they would have earned during that period. ...

The number of passenger arrivals at the Kingdom’s airports rose to 1.37 million in the first six months of the year, up 10 per cent from 1.24 million visitors in the same period in 2013, according to figures from Cambodia Airports. The figures include both international ...

Danet* is fourteen, and lives in a house built on wooden stilts, with no walls, and only tarpaulin for shelter. The ‘virginity trade’ is rampant in Cambodia, particularly in the capital, and is “a big problem”, says Tim Huon from Action Pour Les Enfants (APLE), ...

Transport Minister Gerry Brownlee says Cabinet approval of two new air services agreements will make it easier for New Zealanders to travel and do business in Cambodia and the Philippines. The new agreement with Cambodia places no limits on flights and routes operated by airlines ...

The number of flights between New Zealand and Southeast Asia is set to grow with the approval of new air services agreements with the Philippines and Cambodia, Transport Minister Gerry Brownlee said Wednesday. “These agreements help provide New Zealanders with better access to Southeast Asia, providing ...

Maybank Cambodia Plc has launched its 17th branch at Ta Khmao, Kandal Province to expand its footprint across the nation and to provide the community with convenient access of banking services. ...

Before dawn yesterday, Thai military officials raided a house not far from the border, finding dozens of undocumented Cambodian workers crammed into a room awaiting transportation deeper into the country. The 84 workers were woken, taken into military custody and deported, but the brokers who had ...

A community representative who has played an active role in the long-running land dispute between residents of Kampong Chhnang province’s Lorpeang village and a politically connected company has agreed to back down after accepting compensation. In a deal reached with KDC Company on Monday, Reach Seyma ...

Phnom Penh Water Supply Authority (PPWSA) – the first listed company on the Cambodian stock exchange – has recorded a profit of $1.33 million for the first quarter, a decrease of 60 per cent from the same period last year, according to audited financial statements ...

Cambodia duty-free rice exports to the European Union have this week come under fresh attack from producers in Italy, who say the beneficial treatment is restricting the potential of Italian rice exports. An Italian agriculture collective of farmers, which includes representatives from the Italian Association of ...