Economy and commerce
Investment
A protest economy emerges
By 10am, Siv Lin, the owner of a mobile food stall facing Phnom Penh’s Freedom Park, had prepared all the rice, pork, eggs and vegetables needed to serve yesterday’s regular lunch crowd. It was a normal day. But on September 7, when thousands of opposition Cambodia ...
Hor Kimsay and Anne Renzenbrink
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/protest-economy-emerges
Insurance Sector Sees Growth in First 6 Months
Revenue generated by the country’s insurance firms increased 25 percent to $22 million in the first six months of this year compared to the same period last year, according to data released Tuesday by the General Insurance Association of Cambodia (GIAC). Engineering insurance has become the ...
Hul Reaksmey
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/insurance-sector-sees-growth-in%E2%80%88first-6-months-42216/
Tata moves in on agriculture
India-based Tata International Ltd announced yesterday that it would import and distribute its Farmtrac Tractors in Cambodia to profit from the country’s growing agricultural sector. Speaking at the launching ceremony at the Koh Pich exhibition centre, Jitendra Manghinani, country manager of Tata South East Asia (Cambodia), ...
Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/tata-moves-agriculture
OZ takes Renaissance scrip for cash
OZ Minerals has emerged with 16 per cent of Cambodia-focused Renaissance Minerals after agreeing to push back a deal that could have forced the gold explorer to stump up a $10 million payment on its Okvau deposit in the South-East Asian nation. Renaissance’s purchase of the ...
The West Australian News Staff
http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/business/a/-/wa/18874668/oz-takes-renaissance-scrip-for-cash/
Taiwanese bank now owns 70 pct of UCB
Taiwan’s E. Sun Commercial Bank has purchased a 70 per cent stake in Cambodia’s Union Commercial Bank. The deal, planned for months but announced yesterday at a press conference at the Sofitel hotel in Phnom Penh, will bring technology upgrades and more loan capital to the ...
Kimsay Hor
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/taiwanese-bank-now-owns-70-pct-ucb
Singapore Invests in New Cambodian Bank
An investment company owned by the Singaporean government is a minority partner in a fully licensed commercial bank set to open later this month in cooperation with Canadia Bank PLC and the country’s postal service, a source familiar with the deal confirmed Tuesday. Fullerton Financial Holdings, ...
Joshua Wilwohl and Hul Reaksmey
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/singapore-invests-in-new-cambodian-bank-42137/
Cambodia's construction continues strong growth in H1: minister
Investments in Cambodia’s construction sector have continued to grow sharply in the first six months of the year thanks to sound economic growth and investors’ trust in the country’s political stability, Im Chhun Lim, the country’s Minister of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction, said ...
Global Times News Staff
http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/810044.shtml#.Ui69otKBmN8
Mizuho bank links up with Maybank and Canadia
Japan-based Mizuho Bank (MHBK) has signed an agreement with two well-established banks in Cambodia that is designed to help Mizuho leverage a wider range of financial services when dealing with Japanese clients. The memorandum of understanding was inked on Friday in Phnom Penh between Mizuho’s president ...
May Kunmakara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/mizuho-bank-links-maybank-and-canadia
Software giant targets piracy
Microsoft Cambodia has appointed Thakral Cambodia Industries Limited as its second authorised software distributor in the country, a move intended to help the computer giant’s local operation combat the rampant use of pirated software. Thakral, one of the largest distributors of IT products in Cambodia (its ...
Anne Renzenbrink
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/software-giant-targets-piracy
‘Landmark’ $100 million project gets under way
Hongkong Land broke ground on Friday on a $100 million mixed-use development project in Phnom Penh’s financial district. Called Landmark, the building by the Hong Kong-based property group will be on a 10,700-square metre site on Street 106 near the capital’s Freedom Park. “One of Hongkong Land’s ...
Hin Pisei
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/%E2%80%98landmark%E2%80%99-100-million-project-gets-under-way
Sales of large home appliances rise 20 pct
Cambodian consumer spending on major domestic appliances such as air conditioners, refrigerators, washing machines and microwave ovens, saw a roughly 22 per cent year-on-year increase over the first six months of 2013, according to Germany-based research institute GfK. The rise comes alongside a 20 per cent ...
Anne Renzenbrink
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/sales-large-home-appliances-rise-20-pct
Cambodia’s SMEs Increase
Small and Medium enterprises (SMEs) in Cambodia have so far seen an increase, reaching the number of around 560,000. However, this sector does not grow with reliability and the capacity in business operation does not go to international market standard or standardization of free market. ...
Thou Poeu
http://www.akp.gov.kh/?p=36091
Kubota enters Cambodia
Siam Kubota Corporation (SKC), a leading farm truck maker, has partnered with Group Lease to enter the agriculture machine market in Cambodia. Mitsuji Konoshita, chief executive of Group Lease, said the partnership with SKC is a bid to extend leasing service to Kubota’s clients in ...
Nuntawun Polkuamdee
http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/asia/368267/kubota-enters-cambodia
Local brands standing firm
Inside a shop in a restored building on the corner of Sothearos Boulevard and Street 266, nearly 10 Cambodians wearing the same uniform are walking around and cleaning tables. By the end of this year, Brown Coffee will have a total of eight branches in ...
Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/local-brands-standing-firm
Japanese Investor in Talks to Take Stake in TV3
Japan’s TriAsia Group is in talks to acquire a majority stake in local television station TV3 and plans to broadcast Japanese-language shows, the television channel’s owner confirmed Wednesday. According to TV3’s owner, Khampun Keomony, revenues at the channel have been dropping, which prompted him to look ...
Hul Reaksmey and Joshua Wilwohl
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/japanese-investor-in-talks-to-take-stake-in-tv3-41707/
New Project Aims to Help Small Businesses in Cambodia
A new project by the government and Japan’s aid agency seeks to assist small companies in Cambodia that are in need of specialist advice in order to develop and keep up with competitors in neighboring Asean countries. The aim of the two-year program, called “Strategic Strengthening ...
Simon Henderson and Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/new-project-aims-to-help-small-businesses-in-cambodia-41534/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=new-project-aims-to-help-small-businesses-in-cambodia
Resurgent mobile deals could hurt margins, analysts say
‘Top up $2 and get 30 free minutes daily for 20 days. Top up $5 and expand the same offer for a month. And, for a $10 recharge, that half-an-hour freebie lasts 50 days.” Mobile operator Beeline, which announced the promotion in August, called it “another ...
Anne Renzenbrink
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/resurgent-mobile-deals-could-hurt-margins-analysts-say
Startup Promises a Future for Former Boeng Kak Residents
In mid-August, on day seven of production at the Coco Khmer social enterprise, the team experienced a setback. Temperatures in the fermenting room must remain between 35 and 40 degrees to produce the organization’s virgin coconut oil, but the temperature on that rainy day refused to ...
Devon Geary and Mech Dara
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/startup-promises-a-future-for-former-boeng-kak-residents-41532/
The slaughterhouse blues
It’s 1am and, as Phnom Penh sleeps, the haunting squeals of distressed animals are all that can be heard in the darkness of a field in Russey Keo district. Pigs in open-air sheds have sensed what’s coming: Hundreds of them are about to be slaughtered for ...
Shane Worrell and Khouth Sophak Chakrya
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/slaughterhouse-blues
Thai company shelves Kampot cement project
Thailand’s second-largest cement company has suspended a cement-plant project valued at about $200 million in Kampot province because of political uncertainty and better investment opportunities in Myanmar, according to a senior executive. Philippe Arto, the managing director of Siam City Cement Public Company Limited (SCCC), said ...
Rann Reuy and May Kunmakara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/thai-company-shelves-kampot-cement-project
Cambodia's Sathapana selects ElectraCard for ATM and card services
ElectraCard Services (ECS), a leading provider of software and processing solutions for electronic payment systems, announced that Sathapana Limited (SPN), the leading MFI in Cambodia, has selected ECS to offer ATM and card services to their customers. Sathapana operates through 101 offices (74 branches and ...
ElectraCard Services
http://www.finextra.com/News/Announcement.aspx?pressreleaseid=51361&topic=exchanges
Drop-off in beverage imports questioned
Despite the fact that beverage consumption in Cambodia is on the rise, government statistics show that imports of alcohol and non-alcoholic products in the first half of 2013 have declined by 51 per cent year-on-year. The seemingly conflicting figures left some scratching their heads. Meng Saktheara, ...
Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/drop-beverage-imports-questioned
Condo market continues to grow despite over-supply
New projects involving 20 condo complexes are continuing to be built despite an already narrow market sector and a future surplus of condos in the Kingdom. According to research on the condo market by Bunna Reality Group in first half of this year, Phnom Penh now ...
Siv Meng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/real-estate/condo-market-continues-grow-despite-over-supply
Cambodian casinos may be at risk
As Vietnam takes steps towards legalising gambling for its own citizens, analysts warn of a threat to the bottom line at Cambodia’s premiere casino, NagaWorld, whose patronage depends largely on gamblers from neighbouring countries. Local Vietnamese news agency Thanh Nien reported on Tuesday that the Vietnamese ...
Daniel de Carteret and May Kunmakara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/cambodian-casinos-may-be-risk