Economy and commerce
Villagers protest hike in electricity expense
More than 60 villagers from Kampong Cham province’s Stung Trang district staged a protest on Monday at Arak Tnort commune hall, demanding answers for a massive price hike that has accompanied the installation of electricity meters ahead of a planned switchover to state-provided power. Private company ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/villagers-protest-hike-electricity-expense
Health Ministry to Probe Suspect Baby Formula
The Ministry of Health will investigate a baby milk formula sold in Cambodia that has been recalled over a risk it contains bacteria that causes botulism, an official said Tuesday. New Zealand dairy company Fonterra has advised eight companies that bought a whey protein concentrate produced ...
Workers asked to stay calm amid protest rumors
Cambodia’s Social Affairs Minister urged factory workers, employers and the public not to be concerned regarding the rumors of disorder and planned protests after the country’s recent parliamentary election. He appealed to all factories and enterprises within the country to proceed as normal. “The Cambodian government ...
Cambodia's garment industry at crossroads
Nun Vanak is an excellent example of how Cambodia’s garment manufacturing industry has helped to change lives of hundreds of thousands of people in this country. The 23-year-old is part of Cambodia’s half-a-million-strong workforce – mostly young women – that keeps these garment factories running. Her income ...
Credit at Cambodia's banks grows by 5.4 pct in first half
Lending at Cambodia’s commercial banks increased by 5.4 percent in the first six months of this year thanks to a better economic situation, a central bank official said Monday. Nguon Sokha, director general of the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC), said that the kingdom’s 34 commercial ...
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/business/2013-08/05/c_132603705.htm
Promotions few in financial sector
In late 2009, two months after graduating with a degree in economics, Heng Piseth found a job as a credit officer with a microfinance institution in Kampong Thom province. The story reflects a larger trend confronting young Cambodians entering the financial sector’s job market. While ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/promotions-few-financial-sector
Baby milk recalled in Cambodia
Potentially contaminated infant milk powder that had been banned in China, Russia and Vietnam is now being recalled in Cambodia. The Cambodian distributor of a milk powder product that uses a suspect ingredient from New Zealand dairy giant Fonterra is recalling thousands of units as a ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/baby-milk-recalled-cambodia
Cambodian insurance industry sees 25 pct growth in first half
Cambodia’s insurance sector earned a total premium of 22 million U.S. dollars in the first six months of the year, up 25 percent from the 17.6 million U.S. dollars it made over the same period last year, the industry’s figures showed Tuesday. The premiums were from ...
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/business/2013-08/06/c_132607310.htm
FAO Predicts Rice Crop to Match Last Year’s
The U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) predicts that Cambodia’s rice crop this year will equal but not exceed last year’s record yield. In its July rice market monitor report, issued quarterly, the FAO said that weather conditions meant this year’s rice crop would not reach ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/fao-predicts-rice-crop-to-match-last-years-38297/
In Cambodia, Cyber Casinos Fall Into a Legal Gray Area
In 2010, the Ha Tien Vegas Entertainment Resort, a casino investment on Kampot province’s border with Vietnam that included luxury karaoke rooms and suites, launched with high hopes of attracting Vietnamese gamblers. At the end of December, Ha Tien Vegas closed down. To the north, in ...
Rice exports already surpass last year’s total
Cambodia exported about 31,000 tonnes of rice in July, a 40 per cent seasonal increase from the average of 22,000 tonnes for first five months of this year. Official data show that Cambodia exported 207,000 tonnes from January through July, an amount surpassing the 205,000 tonnes ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/rice-exports-already-surpass-last-year%E2%80%99s-total
Cambodia attracts over 2 mln foreign tourists in first half
Cambodia received 2.09 million international visitors in the first six months of the year, up 19 percent compared with the 1.75 million tourists over the same period last year, figures from the ministry of tourism showed Saturday. Tourism is one of the sectors supporting the ...
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2013-08/03/c_132598966.htm
Cambodia’s Hun Sen Slams U.S. Threats Over Aid
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen on Friday criticized U.S. threats to cut aid to the impoverished Southeast Asian nation if its election wasn’t free and fair, and dared American lawmakers to follow through on their warning. His comments came after U.S. lawmakers started processes in the ...
http://stream.wsj.com/story/latest-headlines/SS-2-63399/SS-2-293500/
Mekong residents voice their concerns
Residents living in the Mekong River basin are expressing concerns over water degradation in the Mekong river and its impact on farming, aquaculture and the livelihood of the millions of people who live in the region. People from Cambodia, Thailand and Viet Nam’s Cuu Long (Mekong) ...
http://vietnamnews.vn/society/242941/mekong-residents-voice-their-concerns.html
First Park Hyatt in Southeast Asia opens in Siem Reap
Hyatt Hotels Corp has announced the opening of the first Park Hyatt in Southeast Asia in Siem Reap. The announcement Wednesday said the reopening of the former Hotel De La Paix in downtown Siem Reap followed a 14-month renovation by award-winning interior designer Bill Bensley. “We are ...
http://www.thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=13&token=YTJhYWQ3Mzc1NjI
Initiative Encourages Private Rural Investment
Representatives from more than 90 Cambodian businesses gathered yesterday at the Council of Ministers building in Phnom Penh to hear about a new initiative that aims to encourage private sector investment in agriculture. The $55.6 million project is an extension of the Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/initiative-encourages-private-rural-investment-37899/
Revenues up at mail service, but not locally
Revenue at the Cambodia Post (CP), the country’s mail service provider, rose nearly $2 million in the first half of this year, a 10 per cent increase compared to the same period in 2012. But the service still handles mostly international shipments, and is failing ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/revenues-mail-service-not-locally
Cambodian rubber earnings fall
Following global supply growth and falling prices, Cambodian rubber has decreased in value over the past three months, according to industry experts. Men Sopheak, deputy director-general of the Chop Rubber Plantation, a major rubber exporter in Cambodia, said yesterday that the price of dried [natural] rubber ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/cambodian-rubber-earnings-fall
Fear keeps workers at home
When the garment factory that employs her opened its doors yesterday for the first time since Sunday’s election, Chan Neoun was about 130 kilometres away, at home in Svay Rieng province. Intense rioting and a military crackdown were just some of the rumours flying around ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/fear-keeps-workers-home
Garlic leaves are a boon for farmer
Profitable income generation has many sources. Whether it requires work in an office, trading on the market or farming land – the outcome always depends on the innovation and effort of the individual. For Pring Leang, the sources are three small fields in Kampong Por village ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/garlic-leaves-are-boon-farmer
Rating agency says Acleda not affected by recent surge in withdrawals
Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services said Tuesday that its single-B ratings and stable outlook for Cambodia’s Acleda Bank Plc were “unaffected” by a recent surge in ATM cash withdrawals. A statement from Singapore said Sunday evening withdrawals after polls closed in national elections were about $4 ...
http://www.thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=13&token=NjZmOWY5OTFhN2I
MFI loans, deposits continue to increase
Both outstanding loans and savings deposits in 35 microfinance institutions (MFIs) continued to grow from January through to June this year, according to the latest report from the Cambodia Microfinance Association (CMA). By the end of the first half of this year, total loans from MFIs ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/mfi-loans-deposits-continue-increase
Prices fluctuate due to poll
As election data trickled in on Sunday evening and a fear set in borne of uncertainty and a beefed-up police presence, demand for basic commodities surged, food prices briefly rose, and some banks saw an expected rise in withdrawals. Sales of rice jumped from their normal ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/prices-fluctuate-due-poll
On Coast, Chinese Development Pushes Thousands From Land
Thousands of villagers in a remote district of the coastal province of Koh Kong have been evicted or are facing eviction in the face of a Chinese resort development project. Some families have moved unwillingly to relocation sites. But others are refusing to leave, setting the ...