Manufacturing
Garments and textiles
Unions Trade Barbs Over Violent Factory Strike
Two rival workers unions continued to trade barbs Thursday, each blaming the other for a violent clash between striking garment workers and police at a factory in Kompong Speu province on Monday that saw eight people arrested. The Free Trade Union (FTU) has led strikes for ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/unions-trade-barbs-over-violent-factory-strike-29833/
National silk board planned
A national silk board (NSB) under the Ministry of Commerce is being planned to weave tighter regulations into the Kingdom’s silk industry, the lack of which has deterred investors and hurt its export potential, according to industry representatives. Minister of Commerce Cham Prasidh said last week ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013060366008/Business/national-silk-board-planned.html
Cambodian police clash with thousands of garment workers, 23 hurt
At least 23 workers were hurt in Cambodia on Monday when police using stun batons moved in to end a protest over pay at a factory that makes clothing for U.S. sportswear company Nike , a worker and a trade union representative said. Police with riot ...
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/27/cambodia-garments-workers-idUSL3N0E829T20130527
Factory Dining Hall Collapses in Phnom Penh; 23 injured
The dining hall of a garment factory in Phnom Penh’s Meanchey district that supplies clothes to U.S. brand Gap collapsed into a pond Monday, injuring more than 20 workers who were eating lunch, workers and officials said. The hall, which is part of Top World Garment ...
France looks to increase exports to the Kingdom
France said it plans to boost its exports to Cambodia as French foreign direct investment in the country – worth $3.18 million in 2012 – continues to rise, officials said on Wednesday. Among this year’s investments, concessions and construction company group Vinci, the largest building ...
Bountiful work, but scant wages angers Cambodia
As night falls in Phonm Penh, thousands of weary workers stream from textile factories, reflecting the abundance of jobs created by the clothing industry’s desire for cheap labor. However, as the number of international clothes companies tapping into Cambodia’s workforce grows, so does anger at the ...
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/biz/archives/2013/03/17/2003557254
Wal-Mart and H&M Pay $200,000 to Cambodian Workers in Historic Settlement
When tales emerge from the retail supply chain, they’re usually tragic, like the alleged sweatshop conditions at the Foxconn (HKG:2038) plants that churn out Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) products, or the 112 Bangladeshi workers who died when their factory, where clothes for Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT), Sears Holdings (NASDAQ:SHLD), ...
Low pay fuels anger among Cambodia's garment workers
As night falls thousands of weary workers stream from textile factories that fan out across Phnom Penh’s outskirts. The clothing industry’s desire for cheap labour having created an abundance of jobs but as the number of international clothes companies tapping into Cambodia’s workforce grows, so does ...
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_asiapacific/view/1259888/1/.html
Limited yarn supply troubles Cambodian silk industry
The silk industry of Cambodia is in rapid decline due to limited domestic supply of silk yarn and high cost of imported raw materials. According to the latest data released by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)-Cambodia, the Southeast Asian nation imports 395 tonnes of raw ...
http://www.fibre2fashion.com/news/textile-news/newsdetails.aspx?news_id=122102
Foreign activists detained
Police arrested five activists from labour-rights group Clean Clothes Campaign yesterday outside the E Garment factory in Kandal province. Neuv Sakhan, deputy director of the Kandal provincial immigration police, told the Post four women and one man, from Norway, Belgium, England and Austria, had been taken ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013030661780/National/foreign-activists-detained.html
Demand for wage increases rejected
Cambodia, with over 400 garment and footwear factories, has become an Asian clothes manufacturing center, and hugely profitable for the factory owners They have rejected a demand by the Cambodian Confederation of Unions to double the minimum monthly wage of factory workers from $61. The ...
http://www.vancouversun.com/business/Demand+wage+increases+rejected/8044435/story.html#ixzz2MYys4mpC
Unpaid Garment Workers Continue Protests
Some 200 garment factory workers protested at the Ministry of Social Affairs on Friday, a day after they held a demonstration in front of the Swedish Embassy in Phnom Penh and urged diplomats to intervene in a labour dispute involving unpaid wages from a factory ...
Investment Or Imperialism? Tracking China's Big Ambitions In Cambodia
A few years ago this scene would have played out in China. More specifically, it would have played out in a Chinese coastal region to which millions of rural folks had arrived looking for work. A huge hangar, piles of fabrics of all colors at both ...
Officials Draft Sub-Decree to Develop the Silk Sector
Officials at the Ministry of Commerce met on Friday to draft a sub-decree for the promotion and development of the Cambodian silk sector, but industry experts say the draft does not do enough for the local products used in the production of silk. The main ...
More regional flights to be available in Cambodia
Regional flights to Cambodia will rise next year with the news that Philippines Airlines is eyeing flights to the Kingdom and Singapore’s SilkAir announced it would increase the frequency of flights to Siem Reap. The regional wing of Singapore Airlines, SilkAir, announced on Tuesday an increase ...
ITC defends its use of funds, claiming silk weavers profiting
The International Trade Centre (ITC) yesterday rejected criticisms over the misuse of expenses and funds for a sector-wide Cambodian silk project, saying its approach was appropriate and well managed. Mao Thora, secretary of state for the Ministry of Commerce, publicly criticised the ITC during a seminar ...
Secretary of state hits out at silk scheme
A government official has harshly criticised a prominent silk promotion project, implemented last year by the International Trade Center (ITC), saying it has not been fruitful. Mao Thora, secretary of state for the Ministry of Commerce, made his comments during a seminar on export diversification at ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2012121860337/Business/secretary-of-state-hits-out-at-silk-sheme.html
‘Fashion Mobs’ to press for living wage in Cambodia
Christmas shoppers stand to be taken by surprise this month as campaigners take action in shopping centers around Europe to raise awareness of poverty wages of Cambodian garment workers. With these ‘fashion mobs’, they pressure H&M, Inditex (Zara), Levi’s and Gap to introduce a living ...
http://www.fibre2fashion.com/news/apparel-news/newsdetails.aspx?news_id=118895
T.K. Garment Co moves across the border for cheaper wages
When the government decided to raise the daily minimum wage to 300 baht nationwide, labour-intensive industries knew sunset was descending on their businesses. As a leading original equipment manufacturer (OEM) for popular clothes lines in Thailand, the company is relocating its largest production site to ...
http://www.bangkokpost.com/business/economics/324412/sunrise-in-cambodia
Weaving woes -Cambodia’s silk sector faces possible extinction as economic realities force artisans to abandon the craft
In the not-so-distant past, visitors to Koh Dach, an island in the Mekong River about 15 kilometers outside of Phnom Penh, were often struck by the sound as well as the sights that met them there. Among the many crafts on display by local artisans, ...
Chugging along- The rehabilitation of the Kingdom’s railways is essential to boosting regional economic ties, but the mammoth project needs to pick up speed
A glance around Battambang’s dilapidated train station reveals the monumental task it will be to complete the Cambodian segment of the ‘iron silk road’, which will connect Southeast Asia to Europe by rail for the first time. Cows graze between missing rails in front of ...
Hanging by a Thread
Cambodia’s tradition of silk production is one that dates back as far as the 13th century. A long-standing symbol of status for the rich and the country, ancient Angkorian silk producing Cambodia bore unique weaving and reeling techniques that have been passed down from generation ...
http://www.bangkokpost.com/business/economics/320823/hanging-by-a-thread
CAMBODIA: H&M hits back at low wage claims
Swedish fashion retailer H&M has hit back at accusations that it fails to pay adequate wages to workers in Cambodian factories making its clothes – and says instead that the situation would be a lot worse if it didn’t source from the country ...
http://www.just-style.com/news/hm-hits-back-at-low-wage-claims_id115952.aspx
H&M slammed over wages
Criticism has mounted against Swedish multinational clothing company H&M in its home country following a documentary released last week that sheds light on wages in its source factories in Cambodia. The episode of Swedish network TV4’s Kalla Fakta, or Cold Facts, focuses mainly on Cambodian garment ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012102959442/National-news/ham-slammed-over-wages.html