Industries
Manufacturing
Battambang cement factory set to start production
A new cement factory in Battambang province will come online on Friday with an annual production capacity of 1.7 million tonnes of cement, according to Mines and Energy Minister Suy Sem. “We will have finished four cement factories that can produce nearly 7 million tones ...
Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/battambang-cement-factory-set-start-production
Brick prices climb to towering highs on demand from Sihanoukville
Brick prices in Cambodia have risen sharply in the last year, a trend that has accelerated over the first two months of this year due to growing demand from the rapidly developing coastal town of Sihanoukville. The price of 10,000 bricks hovered around $180 early ...
Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/brick-prices-climb-towering-highs-demand-sihanoukville
Official releases EU trade data amid spat
Cambodia exported about $3 billion worth of goods to the EU in the first nine months of last year, according to Ouch Borith, a secretary of state at the Foreign Affairs Ministry. Borith’s remarks came at the ministry’s annual meeting and were in response to a ...
Brendan O’Byrne
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/official-releases-eu-trade-data-amid-spat
Industrial sector grows, but still reliant on garment factories
The government released a summary of the country’s industrial sector over the past five years, showing a marked increase in growth across a wide variety of indicators. The report, released by the Ministry of Industry and Handicrafts (MIH) last week, lacks specific data but shows a ...
Cheng Sokhorng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/industrial-sector-grows-still-reliant-garment-factories
Major garment industry hauler says crackdown ensnaring legal trucks
The government’s strict enforcement efforts against oversized trucks are starting to ensnare legal trucks at checkpoints, further hampering the time-sensitive garment industry, according to the head of the country’s largest trucking federation. ...
Cheng Sokhorng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/major-garment-industry-hauler-says-crackdown-ensnaring-legal-trucks
Garment wages soar
Research has shown some staff in the garment sector can now earn up to $480 each month as unions and the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia congratulated workers for taking home the new minimum monthly wage of $170 for the first time. ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/50109499/garment-wages-soar/
GMAC asks for delay on truck ban
The Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia (GMAC) has appealed to Prime Minister Hun Sen to delay a crackdown on oversized trucks, which has already forced more than half of the vehicles serving the garment industry off of the roads since it was called for by ...
Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/gmac-asks-delay-truck-ban
Việt Nam, Cambodia’s bilateral trade surged 30% in 2017
Bilateral trade between Việt Nam and Cambodia last year surged 29.7 per cent against the previous year to nearly US$3.8 billion, the General Department of Customs reported. Of the total, Việt Nam’s export turnover to this market was $2.77 billion, rising 26.1 per cent against the ...
Viet Nam News
http://vietnamnews.vn/economy/422484/viet-nam-cambodias-bilateral-trade-surged-30-in-2017.html#q1s8ssWTMd4ceTep.97
Jump in fainting cases in 2017 for garment workers
The National Social Security Fund of the Ministry of Labour said more than 1,600 workers fainted in 22 factories in 2017, an increase of more than 400 from the previous year. According to a Facebook post that published the conclusion of the 2017 annual results and ...
Pech Sotheary
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/50106532/jump-fainting-cases-2017-garment-workers/
Minimum wage law talks conclude
A tripartite group consisting of employers, unions and the government finished discussing the draft law on minimum wage yesterday. Labour Minister Ith Samheng said yesterday’s talks were the last public workshop to discuss the draft law on minimum wage after two workshops had already taken place. ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/105452/minimum-wage-law-talks-conclude/
Report shows little sign of improvement at factories
A Better Factories Cambodia report shows little improvement in the continued use of short-term contracts and safety and health conditions for workers at surveyed factories, with total compliance of all exporting factories still stuck at less than 50 percent. The International Labour Organisation’s compliance program conducts ...
Yon Sineat and Ananth Baliga
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/report-shows-little-sign-improvement-factories
Working conditions improving in garment factories: ILO
A report released Tuesday by Better Factories Cambodia (BFC), a programme of the International Labour Organisation, found that compliance in the garment industry with working conditions regulations has improved substantially in the last four year. ...
May Kunmakara
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/50103908/working-conditions-improving-in-garment-factories-ilo/
Ministry, US body sign MoU to increase exports
The Labour Minister said he expects buyers from America to increase their orders both in the textile and footwear industry after a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed on Monday between the Ministry of Labour and the American Center for International Labor Solidarity. ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/50103562/ministry-us-body-sign-mou-to-increase-exports/
Labour Ministry signs pact with US agency
The Labour Ministry is expecting American buyers to increase their orders after a memorandum of understanding between the ministry and the American Centre for International Labour Solidarity on “Cooperation in the Field of Labour” was signed. ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/50103718/labour-ministry-signs-pact-with-us-agency/
Road safety policy planned
The Labour Ministry is planning to launch a national policy to cut the number of traffic accidents involving garment workers being driven to and from factories. The policy will encourage employers and drivers to prioritise road safety. Labour Minister Ith Samheng yesterday addressed a workshop on the ...
Sen David
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/50103746/road-safety-policy-planned/
Labour union sued by factory
The owner of Gawon Apparel factory in Kandal province’s Takhmao city has sued the Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers’ Democratic Union for continuing its protest and has requested Labour Ministry intervention. ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/50103467/labour-union-sued-by-factory/
Bag firm plans to grow local operations
Wah Sun Handbags International Holding unveiled plans yesterday to expand its Cambodia operations, citing the country’s low labour costs as the primary reason for the move. In a filing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, the handbag manufacturer announced plans to raise up to $18 ...
Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/bag-firm-plans-grow-local-operations
Workers to hawk factory machines
More than 500 workers from the Benoh Apparel factory in Meanchey district’s Stung Meanchey commune yesterday agreed to sell the remaining machines in the factory to cover their lost pay after the owner went bankrupt and fled the country. ...
Sen David
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/50101011/workers-hawk-factory-machines/
Garment factory shutters, leaving hundreds unpaid
Garment workers at the Benoh Apparel factory in the capital’s Meanchey district returned to work this week after a two-month suspension to find the building abandoned, prompting a protest demanding compensation from the government. ...
Yon Sineat and Andrew Nachemson
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/garment-factory-shutters-leaving-hundreds-unpaid
Chinese delegation explores local market
A delegation of some of China’s biggest companies in the food-processing industry is scouring the local market for investment opportunities in the agriculture sector. Headed by He Jianxiang, the deputy director-general of the Bureau of Product Processing at China’s Ministry of Agriculture, the delegation met ...
Sok Chan
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/50100169/chinese-delegation-explores-local-market/
Workers protest over ‘RCAF’ factory guards
Roughly 100 garment workers protested again in front of Pou Yuen Enterprise Ltd yesterday amid allegations that the shoe factory hired Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF) soldiers to act as security guards for the company. ...
Mech Dara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/workers-protest-over-rcaf-factory-guards
Insiders say new concrete factories not enough to stabilise local sector
Four new Cambodian cement factories are set to come online in the near future, tripling the number of local producers, but insiders and officials this week maintained that even increased capacity will not significantly lower rates of cement imports to Cambodia due to prevailing high ...
Cheng Sokhorng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/insiders-say-new-concrete-factories-not-enough-stabilise-local-sector
PM dares landlords to get rent hikes from him
Prime Minister Hun Sen reiterated his demand for the owners of garment worker housing to freeze rents in 2018 yesterday, telling the leasers to come to him personally if they disagreed with the order. ...
Yon Sineat
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/pm-dares-landlords-get-rent-hikes-him
Protesters to stop blocking road
Garment workers from the Gawon Apparel factory in Kandal province’s Takhmao town have agreed to stop blocking a road leading to the factory for the next 15 days as they await a solution to their labour dispute from the Arbitration Council. ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/5096984/protesters-stop-blocking-road/