Crop products and commodities
Sugarcane
China asked to buy more sugarcane from Cambodia
During a meeting with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang yesterday, Prime Minister Hun Sen asked China to increase imports of Cambodian sugarcane. The officials met in Phnom Penh’s Peace Palace yesterday. ...
Sok Chan
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/50101596/china-asked-buy-sugarcane-cambodia/
Sugar rush puts monster mill well ahead of target
Cambodia’s biggest sugar mill has finished its two-month production run, producing half a million tonnes of refined white sugar, nearly five times what the company predicted at the beginning of the harvest season, a company representative said yesterday.The Cambodian government granted Rui Feng Cambodia an ...
Cheng Sokhorng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/sugar-rush-puts-monster-mill-well-ahead-target
Locals seek spirits’ help
More than 300 ethnic villagers at two separate locations in Preah Vihear province conducted traditional ceremonies yesterday beseeching the spirits for an end to their ongoing land dispute with the Chinese-owned Rui Feng sugar company. ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/locals-seek-spirits-help
Hundreds ask for help in disputes
About 500 people representing thousands of families from four provinces who are affected by the development of sugarcane plantations requested intervention from Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday. ...
Pech Sotheary
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/34976/hundreds-ask-for-help-in-disputes/
Sugar mill to resume operation
A $360 million sugarcane factory will start operating next month after stopping last June due to a shortage of raw material. The Rui Feng sugarcane mill opened last April with capacity to produce nearly half a million tons a year for export, mainly to Europe and ...
Chea Vannak
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/34341/sugar-mill-to-resume-operation/
EU pressure effective?
In recent years, communities displaced by sugar plantations have attempted to reclaim their land by targeting the plantations’ investors and buyers overseas, but a study published last week in the peer-reviewed Journal of Civil Society suggests such efforts may disappoint. ...
Jack Davies
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/eu-pressure-effective
Asean forms sugar alliance
Cambodia, along with six other Asean member countries, reached an agreement to form an alliance of sugar-producing countries ‒ or so the called Asean Sugar Alliance (ASA) ‒ to promote and support the regional sugar industry and make it more competitive globally. ...
May Kunmakara
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/27411/asean-forms-sugar-alliance/
Sugar cane harvesters find their sweet spot
The expansion of sugarcane cultivation in Cambodia is driving strong demand for mechanical cane harvesters, with sales expected to spike this year on hotter temperatures and with large-scale projects coming online, representatives of RMA (Cambodia) Co Ltd, the exclusive local distributor of John Deere agricultural ...
Cheng Sokhorng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/sugar-cane-harvesters-find-their-sweet-spot
Sugar firm ready to compensate evictees, rights body says
Thai sugar giant Mitr Phol has hired a Swiss firm to carry out a damage assessment and agreed to compensate the hundreds of families its nowdefunct plantations in Oddar Meanchey province have robbed of their land, the National Human Rights Commission of Thailand announced Wednesday. ...
Zsombor Peter and Sek Odom
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/sugar-firm-ready-to-compensate-evictees-rights-body-says-98641/
Rights group claims continued harassment in Oddar Meanchey
NGO workers interviewing evictees in Oddar Meanchey province said police pulled their car over without cause on Saturday and tried to seize one of their cameras, the third reported case of authorities in the area harassing the group’s staff in the past month. ...
Mech Dara and Zsombor Peter
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/rights-group-claims-continued-harassment-in-oddar-meanchey-69650/
Exports of rubber up, but prices on the fall
Despite a large increase in exports during the first quarter, natural rubber producers continue to see declining revenues, as world prices fall further. The latest figures from the Ministry of Commerce show natural rubber exports grew 26 per cent during the first quarter of 2014, compared ...
Chan Muyhong
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/exports-rubber-prices-fall
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
Preah Vihear Governor to close NGO office for inciting workers
Preah Vihear provincial governor Oum Mara has sent a letter to inform Interior Minister Sar Kheng that he is ordering an NGO to close its local offices, on the grounds that the organization is inciting villagers to destroy sugarcane farmed by a Chinese company. In the ...
Khy Sovuthy
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/preah-vihear-governor-to-close-ngo-office-for-inciting-workers-55773/
Child labor probe on Preah Vihear sugar plantation moves forward
Police in Preah Vihear province say they have uncovered more evidence of child labor on a Chinese-owned sugarcane plantation and will send the case to court if further investigation confirms their preliminary findings. A former employee of the Lan Feng plantation filed a complaint last month ...
Khy Sovuthy
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/child-labor-probe-on-preah-vihear-sugar-plantation-moves-forward-55643/
Second death confirmed on Kompong Speu sugar plantation
A 44-year-old woman was run over and killed by a harvesting machine on Sunday while working on a sugarcane plantation in Kompong Speu province owned by CPP Senator Ly Yong Phat, marking at least the second death on the plantation since December. Y Mom, originally from ...
Kuch Naren and Zsombor Peter
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/second-death-confirmed-on-kompong-speu-sugar-plantation-54417/
Sugar exports to stay duty free, EU trade czar says
European Union Trade Commissioner Karel de Gucht said he has no plans to launch an investigation into Cambodia’s much-criticized sugarcane plantations after a meeting with Commerce Minister Sun Chanthol in Phnom Penh on Tuesday. Bottom line: Cambodia’s free trade benefits to Europe are safe for ...
Zsombor Peter
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/sugar-exports-to-stay-duty-free-eu-trade-czar-says-54447/
NGO declares Coca-Cola’s visit compromised by police
Auditors from the Coca-Cola Company visited Oddar Meanchey province on Friday to investigate allegations of land grabbing against sugar plantations that supply the global drinks giant, but called off a community meeting because of a heavy police presence, an NGO said Sunday. Chun Bora of the ...
Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/ngo-declares-coca-colas-visit-compromised-by-police-53395/
Coca-Cola auditors visit sugar suppliers
Third-party auditors hired by The Coca-Cola Company are conducting an audit of Cambodian sugar suppliers, NGO and community representatives said yesterday. “Coke has commissioned them to conduct an assessment on their suppliers. They will talk to all parties, the community, NGOs and the company,” said Eang ...
Kevin Ponniah and May Titthara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/coca-cola-auditors-visit-sugar-suppliers
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
EU resolution passed against sugar abuses
The European Parliament has passed a resolution calling on the bloc’s executive body to urgently act on an EU preferential trade scheme found to have carried high risks of human rights violations in Cambodia through land evictions for industrial sugar development. In a January 16 resolution, ...
Kevin Ponniah
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/eu-resolution-passed-against-sugar-abuses