Economy and commerce
Investment
Commerce Minister calls on checkpoint officials to crackdown on expired goods
Commerce Minister asked officials at all border checkpoints to prevent and crackdown on expired products. Thong Thira, Banteay Meanchey’s head of Department of Commerce, said that about 71 percent of 700,000 people living in Banteay Meanchey are farmers. He said the province has big 20 ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://www.thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=13&token=OWFjOTZkZjI0OTh
Royal Group Says Cambodia Air Still on Track
Local conglomerate Royal Group has denied that its join venture with Philippine Airlines (PAL) to create Cambodia’s second national carrier has stalled, despite recent remarks by PAL’s president that his company has delayed its investment due to the current political tension here. On Thursday, PAL’s president ...
Joshua Wilwohl
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/royal-group-says-cambodia-air-still-on-track-51082/
Poipet to see new economic zone
Japanese investors will put $56 million into a joint venture with local company Sanco Investment Group (SIG) to build a new special economic zone in Banteay Meanchey province’s Poipet town, officials said yesterday. Chhour Vichet, executive director of SIG, said Thailand’s labour shortage, Cambodia’s ongoing political ...
May Kunmakara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/poipet-see-new-economic-zone
Ministry Questions Unions Over Role in Kandal Garment Protest
The Interior Ministry has summoned six union representatives for questioning following a complaint from Jack Liu, director-general of Tainan Enterprises (Cambodia) Co., Ltd., alleging that they incited violence at his Kandal province garment factory in late December. A letter dated Thursday, signed by the Interior Ministry’s ...
Gamble on casino in Pailin looks like a loser
Crippling revenue and poor gamer numbers have prompted Entertainment Gaming Asia (EGA) to consider walking away from its Dreamworld Casino in Pailin province, according to a filing on the NASDAQ exchange on January 21. EGA, owned by Melco International Development, runs Dreamworld Casinos in Pailin and ...
Eddie Morton
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/gamble-casino-pailin-looks-loser
Garment IPO to pay for factory
Taiwanese garment factory Grand Twins International (GTI) has carefully laid out a schedule so it can go public on Cambodia’s stock exchange after the dust settles from unrest tied to minimum wage disputes, according to the company’s chief financial controller, Henry Chen. GTI received approval from ...
Eddie Morton and Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/garment-ipo-pay-factory
ANZ sugar fallout broadens
Shareholders will want answers from ANZ bank after it was revealed this week that the banking giant’s joint venture in Cambodia financed ruling party senator Ly Yong Phat’s controversial sugar plantation, the Responsible Investment Association Australia (RIAA) said yesterday. Environmental audit documents obtained by the Post on Tuesday ...
Daniel de Carteret
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/anz-sugar-fallout-broadens
The Plight of Cambodia's Garment Workers, On Display on a Manhattan Sidewalk
Last week, on a busy sidewalk in Times Square, a hunched figure in a surgical mask labored at a hand-operated sewing machine. This anonymous worker was Khmer-American artist Kat Eng. According to her website, she sat in front of the flagship location of clothing giant H&M ...
Sarah Goodyear
http://www.theatlanticcities.com/arts-and-lifestyle/2014/01/plight-cambodias-garment-workers-laid-bare-manhattans-sidewalks/8187/
Smart rolls out 4G network
Mobile internet speeds in Cambodia are ratcheting up a notch. Smart Mobile, the country’s second largest operator by subscribers, is making 4G LTE internet available to customers this week, the company announced yesterday during the launch of the service at NagaWorld Casino. Thomas Hundt, CEO of Smart, ...
Eddie Morton
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/smart-rolls-out-4g-network
PAL reassesses Cambodia plan
PAL Holdings Inc., the operator of Philippine Airlines, is reviewing investment plans in Cambodia Air, after it deferred twice the completion of the joint venture with Inter Logistics (Cambodia) Co. Ltd. PAL said earlier it teamed up with Royal Group of Cambodia to establish its ...
Lailany P. Gomez
http://manilastandardtoday.com/2014/01/23/pal-reassesses-cambodia-plan/
ANZ Implicated in Sugar Plantation Evictions
Three NGOs on Wednesday called on ANZ Royal Bank to help the hundreds of families who have lost farmland to a sugar plantation that the bank helped to finance in Kompong Speu province. The NGOs also made public a 2013 social and environmental impact assessment of ...
Zsombor Peter
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/anz-implicated-in-sugar-plantation-evictions-50980/
Pro-Government Unions Call for Action Against Leaders of Strikes
Unions aligned with Prime Minister Hun Sen’s government issued a statement Wednesday calling on it to “take action” against union leaders who they accuse of inciting workers to hold strikes and violent demonstrations. “We would like to request [CPP Labor Minister] Ith Sam Heng to take ...
Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/pro-government-unions-call-for-action-against-leaders-of-strikes-50970/
Risk-averse Japanese investing more in Phnom Penh condos
In the course of a city’s development, especially a capital city, certain events serve as mile markers, raising their profile both regionally and globally. Few understand the changing views of Japanese investors toward Cambodia better than the upper management of boutique real estate consultancy AnnaCam ...
Chris Horton
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/real-estate/risk-averse-japanese-investing-more-phnom-penh-condos
Cambodia's new business registrations drop 12 pct in 2013
Cambodia had issued operating licenses to 2,988 new companies last year, down 12 percent from 3, 386 in a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Commerce on Wednesday. Of the 2013 new business registrations, foreign businesses registered 1,448, down 9 percent, while local registrations fell ...
Xinhuanet News Staff
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/business/2014-01/22/c_133065203.htm
Koh Kong families claim homes torn down
Representatives of Chinese company Tianjin Union Development Group, backed by soldiers, began tearing down villagers’ houses in Koh Kong province yesterday, community representatives and a district governor said. Botum Sakor district governor On Phearak said yesterday that company representatives had come to clear the residents’ ...
Sen David
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/koh-kong-families-claim-homes-torn-down
Good ties boost Chinese investments in Cambodia -- PM
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said Wednesday that the country’s good relations and cooperation with China have encouraged more and more Chinese investors to Cambodia. The premier made the remarks during a meeting with Zhang Tingke, visiting vice-president of a leading Chinese power company Huaneng Group, ...
Xinhuanet News Staff
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china/2014-01/22/c_133065798.htm
Regulator wants licences
In the latest move to assert control over Cambodia’s saturated telecommunications industry and maintain tighter oversight, the Telecommunication Regulator of Cambodia (TRC) last week called for all industry providers to give proof of operations in a bid to snuff out inactive firms and reclaim wasted ...
Eddie Morton and Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/regulator-wants-licences
For factory, solar power runs show
Resembling a giant Rubik’s cube under construction, the solar-powered factory in Phnom Penh’s Por Sen Chey district will be completely off the grid. Some 1,350 solar panels, each one capable of generating 100 watts per hour of sunlight, cover the three-story building. In a few months, ...
Daniel de Carteret
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/factory-solar-power-runs-show
Tax hike cuts slaughterers’ profit
Almost 50 livestock slaughterers in Preah Vihear town yesterday protested a rise in taxes and fees they must to pay on their products. Pin Raksmey, chief of the committee at Kampong Pranak market, said that the problem was out of his hands. ...
Sen David
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/tax-hike-cuts-slaughterers%E2%80%99-profit
Trade hurt by political and labour turbulence
Cambodian trade reached a total of $15.9 billion in 2013, equaling an 18 per cent rise from 2012, according to the Ministry of Commerce. Exports were valued at $6.9 billion, up from $5.5 billion a year earlier, with garment and textiles accounting for more than 80 ...
Eddie Morton
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/trade-hurt-political-and-labour-turbulence
Chinese investment in Cambodia up in 2013
Cambodia had attracted some $427 million of investment from China last year, up 62 percent compared with the $263 million in a year earlier, according to a report by the Council for the Development of Cambodia (CDC). The cumulative Chinese investment in Cambodia has totaled $9.6 ...
Global Times News Staff
http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/838148.shtml#.Utx56xD-LIU
Cambodian, Laotian FMs to meet next week on ties
Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Hor Namhong would meet with his Laotian counterpart Thongloun Sisoulith next week to explore possibilities to further boost bilateral ties, the Cambodian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Friday. The two top diplomats would co-chair the 12th meeting of the ...
Xinhuanet News Staff
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2014-01/17/c_133052813.htm
One Garment Strike Ends, Two Begin, Over Missing Pay
Garment workers at a Kandal province factory ended their most recent strike Thursday after management agreed to pay out part of their wages for the days they were absent during a previous strike, while workers at a Phnom Penh factory went back on strike because ...
Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/one-garment-strike-ends-two-begin-over-missing-pay-50787/
Political issues not affecting property sector, for now
Despite recent political turbulence, local investors in the Phnom Penh property sector are not deterred and are still bullish on the market’s future prospects. One good example of this local optimism is Ly Hour Group, which recently announced it would invest more than $100 million to ...
Siv Meng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/real-estate/political-issues-not-affecting-property-sector-now