Economy and commerce
Investment
A factory’s fainting crisis
In a single factory that supplies some of the biggest international brands, faintings occurred every day for five years, a new investigation by the Cambodian Legal Education Centre has found. Until just weeks ago, when the management installed new fans, three to four garments workers were ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012110759624/National-news/a-factorys-fainting-crisis.html
Kingdom’s trade deficit widens
Cambodia’s total exports increased more than 13 per cent in the first nine months of this year, with a year-on-year comparison indicating a widening trade deficit. A private-sector representative, an exporter and an independent economist said the slow growth was mainly due to the slowing of ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012110759621/Business/kingdoms-trade-deficit-widens.html
Locals Lobby Ice Factory to Reduce Noise, Smell
A factory in Phnom Penh has been ordered to construct a barrier to reduce noise, and a bad smell, from ice-making machinery that runs 24 hours a day and has local residents losing sleep, district officials said. Seventy families from Russei Keo district’s Kilometer 6 ...
Coffee Chain Costa to Open Shop Next Month in Phnom Penh
The U.K.-based coffee chain Costa Coffee will join the mix of few coffee shops in Phnom Penh when it opens its first branch in Chamcar Mon district next month, representative of the international branch said yesterday. Rami Sharaf, CEO of RMA Cambodia, which represents international brands ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/coffee-chain-costa-to-open-shop-next-month-in-phnom-penh-5301/
Telecom Group Vimpelcom Hires Adviser to Help Sell Beeline
United Arab Emirates-telecoms group Vimpelcom has hired Standard Chartered to advice it on the sale of its business in Cambodia, Laos, Burundi, Zimbabwe and the Central African Republic, two people familiar with the matter said. New York-listed Vimpelcom wants to focus on its largest markets of ...
Hedging China risks, Japan firms turn to booming SE Asia
Hiroshi Uematsu had a tough start in Cambodia, where he heads an economic zone that aims to attract business from his native Japan. He arrived just before the global financial crisis sent the Asian Economic Minnow’s exports into a tailspin and dried up investment interest. Now, ...
Cambodia: Mineral, Metal and Fuel Resources
Cambodia, with a total population of 14,952,665 as of July 2010, is located in Southeastern Asia, bordering the Gulf of Thailand, between Thailand, Vietnam, and Laos. The country mostly has a tropical climate and covers a total area of 181,035 km2 Cambodia’s key natural resources include ...
Cambodia, a potentially lucrative market for Vietnam
Exporting Vietnamese products to Cambodia is beneficial to both countries, however, in order to hold onto this market, Vietnamese firms must remain proactive and consistently advertise their brands and improve quality of their products and services. ...
Japanese Investment Grows; Hurdles Remain
Japanese investment in Cambodia is steadily increasing as a result of sharply rising wages in China and other Southeast Asian nations. But experts warned this week that for sustained investment growth—and to avoid driving Japanese companies to other attractive investment destinations such as Burma —the ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/japanese-investment-grows-hurdles-remain-5144/
Asian bloggers discuss Internet freedom at Cambodia conference
Bloggers from across Asia came together in the Cambodian city of Siem Reap this weekend to discuss blogging, technology and Internet freedom at 2012’s Blogfest Asia festival, a gathering of over 160 opinionated and distinctly geeky participants. Tops on the agenda? Internet freedom. The Cambodian contingent ...
Five workers injured as lift plummets from third floor
Five workers riding a lift meant to carry animal carcasses up to the fifth floor of a meat roasting facility were left with serious injuries when their metal cage plummeted from the third floor. The five victims, aged from 25 to 38, suffered broken legs ...
ADB Institute: too much focus on 2015
Masahiro Kawai, dean of the Asia Development Bank Institute, believes too great a focus is being placed on the realization of the 2015 ASEAN Economic Community at the cost of considering middle- and longer-term issues in the ASEAN region. “Economic community-building is not going to be completed in ...
French Delegation to Discuss Water Treatment
Delegates from eight French-owned companies in the water management sector will meet with government officials and officials from the Phnom Penh Water Supply Authority today to explore business opportunities in Cambodia, according to a French Embassy statement yesterday. As a part of a two-day visit, ...
Bunong Minority Villagers Protest Against Rubber Company
About 80 ethnic Bunong villagers living in Mondolkiri’s Pech Chreada district staged a protest against the Socfin-KCD rubber company Monday, demanding that the firm honor its long-standing pledge to return 1,000 hectares of farmland located inside its concession. Socfin-KCD, a join venture between Socfin, a ...
Hong Kong seeking trade ties
During a visit to Phnom Penh this week, Greg So, Hong Kong’s Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development, reiterated Hong Kong’s desire to be inducted into the ASEAN-China Free Trade Agreement and highlighted Cambodia as a potential beneficiary for foreign direct investment from Hong Kong. In So’s view, economic ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012103159498/Business/hong-kong-seeks-trade-ties.html
Complaint to Be Filed in US Over Koh Kong Sugar Plantations
Families in Koh Kong province will today file a complaint with the U.S. government against American Sugar Refining (ASR) over farmland they claim they were violently evicted from to make way for two sugar plantations that supply the New York-based company. The 207 Koh Kong ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/complaint-to-be-filed-in-us-over-koh-kong-sugar-plantations-4956/
Cambodia needs to polish reputation
The chief economist at the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia says Cambodia needs to attract greater numbers of multinational companies and treat them well, in order to establish production networks that will transfer technology to smaller Cambodian businesses. In an interview with the ...
VimpelCom may sell units in Africa and Asia
Russian giant pulling back to core markets to achieve more rational structure and raise funds for investment Russia’s VimpelCom is considering selling many of its subsidiaries in Africa and Asia to focus on more “mature” markets, according to reports. The Financial Times newspaper says that the operator ...
http://www.rethink-wireless.com/2012/10/30/vimpelcom-sell-units-africa-asia.htm
PTT sets Bt6bn budget for 5-year expansion
PTT has set aside up to Bt6 billion to carpet key Asean markets with more than 240 retail petrol stations over the next five years. President and chief executive officer Pailin Chuchottaworn said the company had earmarked spending of between Bt5 billion and Bt6 billion through ...
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/business/PTT-sets-Bt6bn-budget-for-5-year-expansion-30193279.html
First financial leasing company for Cambodia
GL Finance (GLF), the first and only financial leasing company in Cambodia, opened its 11th branch in Phnom Penh on Friday, covering all authorized Honda and NCX dealerships in Phnom Penh and its vicinity. GLF, in partnership with Honda NCX, helps customers buy their own motorbikes and provides ...
Norwegian firm sues Mfone over $3.7m debt
A lawyer for Norwegian-owned power and electronics equipment firm Eltek Valere yesterday called on investors not to buy stakes in the Thai-owned mobile phone operator Mfone, and to await court’s ruling. The lawyer’s appeal came after the Phnom Penh Municipal Court issued a warrant for keeping ...
Firm to Offer Financing for Motorcycles
Thailand’s GL Finance Plc. launched its business in Cambodia on Friday by opening eight branches in Phnom Penh and Kandal province that will operate hire purchase operations out of Honda motorcycle dealership. Speaking during the opening ceremony for its branch in Phnom Penh’s Prampi Makara district, ...
Too few businesses registered
A majority of small and medium enterprises in Cambodia were not registered, despite the advantages it offered to businesses, participants at a workshop on business registration procedure, intellectual property and business etiquette for women heard yesterday. Referring to 2011 statistics, Chan Sorey, vice-minister of the Ministry ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012102659433/Business/too-few-businesses-registered.html
Foreigners entering the condo market in Phnom Penh
The number of foreign owners of houses in Cambodia has soared in recent years after the government permitted foreigners to have rights over owning real estate in the Kingdom, according to officials of the Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction. Speaking at the opening of ...