Economy and commerce
Trade
Trade deficit prompts call to diversify exports
Cambodia’s trade deficit expanded to almost half a billion dollars during the first three months of the year, according to the latest figures from the Ministry of Commerce. Between January and March, Cambodia’s exports reached $1.99 billion, up 19 per cent compared to the same period ...
May Kunmakara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/trade-deficit-prompts-call-diversify-exports
Economist Says Asean Likely To Miss Key Deadlines for Integration
Southeast Asian countries are likely to miss a deadline for the economic integration of Asean in 2015, a leading economist says. Jayat Menon, an economist for the Asian Development Bank, told reporters in Phnom Penh Wednesday that Asean countries are behind on key targets for integration ...
Suy Heimkhemra
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/economist-says-asean-likely-to-miss-key-deadlines-for-integration-/1899474.html
Minister calls for old car ban
Imports of older cars and vans should be banned to help reduce pollution, Minister of Industry and Handicrafts Cham Prasidh said on Monday. Speaking to Cambodia’s business community at a Green Industry workshop in Phnom Penh on Monday, Prasidh said all countries had a role to ...
Chan Muyhong
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/minister-calls-old-car-ban
Cambodia's foreign trade up 15% amid ongoing political row
Cambodia’s trade volume with foreign countries has increased by 15 percent in the first quarter of 2014 even though the internal conflict between the ruling and opposition parties over July election results remains unsolved. The figures of the Commerce Ministry showed Tuesday that the Southeast Asian ...
Shanghai Daily News Staff
http://www.shanghaidaily.com/article/article_xinhua.aspx?id=213997
DefTech targets Cambodia, Myanmar jobs
Malaysia’s leading armoured vehicle maker DRB-Hicom Defence Technologies Sdn Bhd (DefTech) is setting its sights on Cambodia and Myanmar, said chief executive officer Amril Samsudin. ...
The Star News Staff
http://www.thestar.com.my/Business/Business-News/2014/04/21/DefTech-targets-Cambodia-Myanmar-jobs/
Phnom Penh Water to hold annual meeting this week
Phnom Penh Water Supply Authority is scheduled to hold this week its annual general meeting of shareholders, the second since its shares were listed two years ago. The meeting is due to take place at the authority’s headquarters in Daun Penh district on Thursday morning. ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://www.thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=13&token=Yzc0YmFjMjc1MmI
Vietnam's HAGL to harvest corn in Cambodia, Laos this year
Vietnam’s HAGL JSC is expanding its overseas plantations and plans to harvest corn in Cambodia and Laos this year, Bloomberg News reported Monday. ...
Everyday News Staff
http://www.everyday.com.kh/en/article/21710.html
Little appetite for garment strike in Phnom Penh
Most garment factories did not open for business Thursday, choosing to extend the Khmer New Year holidays—which officially ended Wednesday—rather than face industrial action in the form of a planned nationwide stay-at-home strike. However, a number of workers interviewed Thursday said they knew nothing about the ...
Zsombor Peter and Mech Dara
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/little-appetite-for-garment-strike-in-phnom-penh-56695/
Rice customs fees dropped
The Ministry of Economy and Finance (MoEF) will scrap customs fees for rice exporters from May 1 in an effort to reduce production costs and boost Cambodia’s competitiveness in the sector, according to a letter obtained by the Post. “[The ministry] has agreed to eliminate charges ...
Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/rice-customs-fees-dropped
Cambodian largest port sees rise in cargo shipment in first quarter
The Sihanoukville Autonomous Port, Cambodia’s largest shipping facility, reported a 13 percent rise in cargo shipments in the first three months of this year, a port’s data showed Thursday. Some 862,380 tons of goods had been transported through the port during the January-March period this year, ...
Global Times News Staff
http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/855162.shtml#.U1CEvPmSxqU
Predictions mixed for post-new year garment strike
Along Phnom Penh’s industry-heavy Veng Sreng Street on Wednesday, garment factories lay idle in observance of Khmer New Year. The dorms around them were empty, save for the few workers who could not afford the bus ticket home for the holiday, which ended Wednesday. Eight unions ...
Mech Dara
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/predictions-mixed-for-post-new-year-garment-strike-56624/
Angkor Gold (V.ANK) says financing deal puts Cambodia 'in play'
Angkor Gold Corp. (TSX: V.ANK, Stock Forum) has entered into a strategic alliance with Hong Kong-based Tohui Beishan Property Group Holding Ltd. (TG) that could provide up to $10.5 million for exploration in Cambodia, Angkor said Monday. The strategic alliance between Angkor and TG includes TG’s ...
Stockhouse News Staff
http://www.stockhouse.com/news/newswire/2014/04/14/angkor-gold-v-ank-says-financing-deal-puts-cambodia-play
Cambodia earns $2.5 billion from tourism in 2013
Cambodia earned $2.5 billion from the tourism sector last year, a senior government official said Monday. Last year’s income from tourism accounted for around 16 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product and provided jobs directly to about 400,000 people, Sok An said. The Cambodian government ...
Global Post News Staff
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/kyodo-news-international/140414/cambodia-earns-25-billion-tourism-2013
Cambodian mangoes ship off to China
Agriculture tycoon Mong Reththy yesterday confirmed a second shipment of Koe Romeat mangoes, twice the size of the first, will be headed for China this week from his Preah Sihanouk plantation. ...
Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/cambodian-mangoes-ship-china
A logging free-for-all
The scale of mass logging in once-dense woodlands in Cambodia’s north now more closely resembles the free-for-all of a gold rush than the sustainable forestry more often associated with these communities. With the financial backing of powerful businessmen, villagers in three districts of Preah Vihear are ...
May Titthara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/logging-free-all
Costs don’t top brands’ concerns
In their latest bid for a $160 minimum monthly wage for the garment industry, independent unions will lead a “stay at home” strike late next week. While the chances of that figure being approved anytime soon seem slight – the government has only just announced a ...
Sean Teehan
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/costs-don%E2%80%99t-top-brands%E2%80%99-concerns
Ministry shake-up as AEC integration looms
The Ministry of Commerce is undergoing an internal shake-up to better position itself for the opening up of trade across the region. Commerce Minister Sun Chanthol told the Post yesterday that ahead of Asean Economic Community (AEC) integration in 2015, new divisions were being established and others realigned ...
Daniel de Carteret
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/ministry-shake-aec-integration-looms
Mercedes halts imports over luxury tax
The sole retailer of Mercedes-Benz cars into the country, Hung Hiep (Cambodia) Co., has suspended imports since January over what it claims is a new import duty on luxury cars coming into the country. Other luxury car importers including Porsche, Audi, BMW and Jaguar Land Rover, ...
George Styllis
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/mercedes-halts-imports-over-luxury-tax-56050/
Ho Chi Minh City EXPO 2014 in Cambodia opens in May
The Vietnam-Cambodia International Trade Fair and Exhibitions 2014, also known as Ho Chi Minh City EXPO 2014, will be held at Koh Pich Convention Center in Phnom Penh, Cambodia on May 7-11. ...
Thao Tien
http://www.saigon-gpdaily.com.vn/Business/2014/4/108657/
World Bank says Cambodia has most liberal foreign investment regime in ASEAN
The World Bank says Cambodia has the most open foreign direct investment regime in ASEAN while Thailand has the most restrictive. In a report released Monday, the bank also said that Cambodia had recently emerged as ASEAN’s second-biggest recipient of foreign direct investment in the agricultural ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=13&token=OGM2MTVmYTQ0NTM
Cambodia leads doubts over AEC
In a rare moment of honesty a Cambodian official has admitted his doubts about his country’s ability to meet regional expectations in time for the launch of the much vaunted ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) by the end of 2015. “If you talk about short-term: Yes, we ...
Luke Hunt
http://thediplomat.com/2014/04/cambodia-leads-doubts-over-aec/
Python peddler arrested
Police in Kandal province’s Koh Thom district seized a shipment of live pythons en route to market in Vietnam on Friday, arresting the accused smuggler and turning the snakes over to conservation group Wildlife Alliance, police said yesterday. ...
Kim Sarom
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/python-peddler-arrested
Paddy rice farms curb losses from lost land
Cambodian paddy rice production fell only slightly during the first half of this year’s dry season, despite 12,000 hectares of usually productive land deemed unusable due to last year’s floods. According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, dry season paddy rice production between December ...
Chan Muyhong
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/paddy-rice-farms-curb-losses-lost-land
Fish exports fail to impress
Cambodian fishery exports rose slightly during the first three months of the year, according to a report by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. The report, which was released yesterday, says that fish exports reached 4,800 tonnes in the first quarter, a year-on-year increase of ...
Chan Muyhong
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/fish-exports-fail-impress