Economy and commerce

The Cambodia Rice Federation yesterday raised fresh concerns about the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (FTA), after an online rice-industry portal said the deal will scrap import duties on about 80,000 tons of rice from Vietnam per year and that this could start this year. ...

The Federation of Associations for Small and Medium Enterprises of Cambodia is planning to propose that the government set up special economic zone (SEZ) for small and medium-sized sized enterprises (SMEs) so that they can work in clusters, saying this will enhance their productivity, increase ...

Australia-listed Southern Gold has completed its divestment of its Cambodia’s subsidiary Southern Gold Asia, saying there was little interest among its investors in the company and that it would focus on its Cannon gold mine in Western Australia, according to a press release from the ...

Japanese-owned Hotel Okura Co. Ltd. on Monday reached an agreement with TEHO Development Cambodia Pte. Ltd. – a subsidiary of Singapore-listed TEHO International – to develop and manage a luxury hotel in Phnom Penh as the company as part of its expansion in ASEAN, a ...

Cambodian rice exports are finding new markets and rising demand in ASEAN this year, but officials and exporters are not linking this to the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), saying it was too early to tell what impact the regional trade bloc – which took effect ...

With the American economy expanding, Cambodia’s total export to the country increased  slightly more than 9 per cent last year over 2014, the latest US trade data shows. ...

Three local NGOs have filed a com­plaint with international sug­ar industry group Bonsucro for re­admitting Thai sugar giant Mitr Phol even though thousands of fam­ilies forced off the company’s for­mer plantations in Oddar Mean­chey province have yet to be fully compensated. ...

Cambodian trade officials are urging their Chinese counterparts to boost imports of Cambodian rubber, cassava, sugar and pepper to narrow the trade imbalance between the two countries, officials said after a meeting last week. ...

Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong is in China this week for official talks aimed at strengthening trade and security ties. ...

The Association for Rubber Development in Cambodia will submit a letter to the government asking it to suspend export taxes on rubber due to the sharp decline in its price and to prevent more farmers from going out of business, its secretary general, Men Sopheak, ...

Kasikornbank, Thailand’s fourth-largest bank by assets, has received a licence to open its first branch in Cambodia, a bank executive said yesterday. ...

Cambodia attracted the fixed asset investment of 319.4 million U.S. dollars from its ASEAN member states in 2015, up 56 percent from a year earlier, according to a government report on Tuesday. ...

Cambodian officials say they are considering joining the US-led Trans-Pacific Partnership, but analysts say the country is a long way from being a part of the regional trade pact. ...

Investments in Cambodia grew by 18 per cent last year, with a bulk of this capital flowing into the infrastructure, agriculture and tourism projects, the Council for Development of Cambodia announced yesterday. ...

Before departing for China to co-chair an annual meeting between the two governments yesterday, Foreign Minister Hor Namhong denied claims that their relationship was any weaker than that of Cambodia and the United States. ...

South Korean investment in Cambodia’s agricultural industry, especially its food-processing sector, could result in the export of more value-added products that could help transform the Kingdom’s economy, a senior official at the Council for the Development of Cambodia and Korean officials told an investment forum ...

Cambodia’s national corruption watchdog has added two more firms to its list of private sector companies committed to stamping out corruption, a government news source said yesterday. ...

Cambodian casino operator NagaCorp Ltd. posted a net profit of $172.6 million last year, a 27 per cent increase over the previous year, attributing the surge to increased business volume across all gaming segments at its NagaWorld casino complex in Phnom Penh. ...

Growth in the country’s expanding microfinance sector slowed slight­ly in the last quarter of 2015, but both loans and deposits finished the year about 45 percent high­er than at the end of 2014, ac­cording to figures from the Cam­bodia Microfinance Association (CMA). ...

Having managed various businesses in Cambodia for more than two decades now, Rithy Sear has earned a reputation for being ambitious, and rightly so. ...

Cambodian entrepreneurs and business leaders on Saturday stressed the challenges for firms in the hospitality and retail sectors that adopt an aggressive pricing policy, suggesting a more value-added approach instead.   ...

A local firm has seen revenues grow by adding online operations to its casino, allowing it to take bets from offshore players. Now it is designing the software that allows other casinos to get a piece of the action. ...

Food and beverage company Park Café has sold a 30 percent stake in its company to Cambodia-Laos Development Fund (CLDF) for $3 million, and the investment will be used to expand its operations in the capital and the provinces, a senior executive of the company ...

Bank of Ayudhya Pcl (Krungsri), Thailand’s fifth largest financial group and a subsidiary of Japan’s leading financial group Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, has acquired a 100-per-cent stake of Hattha Kaksekar Limited (HKL), one of the leading microfinance institutions in Cambodia, for an undisclosed amount. ...