Economy and commerce

Mobile phone operator qb has shuttered “a number” of retail showrooms in an effort to improve its business in Cambodia’s oversaturated telecommunications market, the company confirmed Wednesday. And former employees have also revealed the telecom—which is operated by Cambodia Advance Communications Ltd. (CAC)—has lost nearly half ...

Chea Kea, owner of the Daimond Crown casino on the border with Thailand in Pailin province, is investing in a $4 million feed processing warehouse that will also be used to store commodities and house farm animals. Construction on the warehouse, which is expected to ...

As tensions subside between Thailand and Cambodia over the 11th-century Preah Vihear temple, site officials are welcoming a steady increase of international tourists. At 5,240, foreign visits are up 56 per cent in the first six months of the year, compared to the same period ...

Russian sailor Andrey Mantula plans to build what he is calling Cambodia’s first marina off the beaches of Preah Sihanouk province. Mantula, who has lived in Cambodia for one year, is heading up the project. He expects construction to start on October 1 of this year. ...

Gold prices in Phnom Penh have plummeted by almost a quarter in the past six months as international prices dropped, sparking a rush on buying gold locally, traders said Tuesday. Gold was selling at $1,540 per damlung (26.67 damlung is equal to 1 kg of gold) ...

Asianway Travel company is offering special package tours to traveling professionals called the “mega FAM tour” between Cambodia and Vietnam from July to August, 2013. With the best selling packages offered, professionals have a great opportunity to explore and experience the treasures of Cambodia and ...

Two dozens of Chinese entrepreneurs in the World Eminence Chinese Business Association have been visiting Cambodia to seek possibilities to broaden trade and investment ties between China and Cambodia. The group, led by Xia Lingsheng, the Association’s executive vice president, met with Tep Ngorn, the 2nd ...

Aeon Insurance Service (Thailand), the insurance broker of Aeon Thana Sinsap (Thailand), will study doing business in Cambodia as part of its synergy with Aeon Group, which is constructing its first mall in Phnom Penh. Managing director Sakarabhop Dhivarakara said yesterday that even though there were ...

Toyota Motor Corp, the world’s largest automaker, is planning to expand their operations in Cambodia as well as other emerging markets. The move is a push to attract new first time-buyers of automobiles and get about half of global sales from the emerging markets. Toyota plans to ...

The expanding banking sector and the spread of microfinance institutions (MFIs) in rural areas have failed to elbow informal, unlicensed money lending out of the market, industry experts say. Fast and easy access to money – as well as the fear of “losing face” by borrowing ...

After a visit to Phnom Penh last week, John C Tsang, finance secretary of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, took to his blog to call for more direct imports of Cambodian rice, which he says comes through a third country. In a post on June ...

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen on Monday expressed his desire to see better relations with Pakistan, particularly in economics, trade and tourism. He said the two countries signed an agreement on the investment protection and promotion in April 2004 during the visit of former Prime ...

A mid [sic] global economic fragility, foreign direct investment (FDI) in Cambodia grew a whopping 73 per cent in 2012 from the year before, a huge increase helping to fuel a record-setting amount of money pouring into least developed countries, according to the United Nations ...

Cambodia’s largest microfinance institution, (MFI) Prasac, has received a $60.5 million loan to strengthen its capacity in offering broader financial services in the country. On Friday, Prasac signed the agreement for the syndicate loan – provided by more than one lender – with the Netherlands Development ...

It’s been more than a year since union leader Sat Sep was fired from the Tropicana Casino and Resort in Poipet town, a dismissal that sparked strikes and ended in senior members of the Cambodian Tourism and Service Workers Federation being driven from the casino’s ...

In light of ongoing disputes over working conditions in the garment sector, the Cambodian Centre for Human Rights (CCHR) released yesterday details on hundreds of factories it believes will offer greater transparency along the garment supply chain – from producers to buyers – and shine ...

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a loan of $55 million to help transform the rice sector of Cambodia into a viable commercial industry as well as taking care of the land and water resources. ADB’s Climate-Resilient Rice Commercialization Sector Development Program―which will run ...

Kuala Lumpur-based Felda Global Ventures Holdings Berhad (FGV), the third-largest palm oil operator in the world, said it plans to cultivate rubber inside Cambodia. “We are . . . consolidating by expanding into countries like Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos – planting other crops such as rubber,” ...

Ahead of elections 10 years ago, people across the country would hoard rice in case the vote sent the country spiraling into a state of turmoil. Businesses across the country would bide their time before making any major investments. And those who could afford to ...

Cambodia’s Apsara Authority and China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation on Thursday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the project of sustainable management of the existing resources for conservation and sustainable development in Angkor World Heritage Site and Siem Reap region. The deal was inked between ...

Cambodia’s garment industry, the country’s biggest income earner, recorded 2.06 billion U.S. dollars in export value in the first five months of this year, up 22 percent on the same period last year, a Commerce Ministry’s report showed Tuesday. Garment export accounts for more than 80 ...

Two UN agencies praised Cambodia’s Fisheries Administration Thursday as an “example of success” for addressing child labour in fisheries. In a joint report, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the International Labour Organization recalled that the fisheries agency began raising awareness of ...

Chinese flag carrier Air China is expected to launch the first non-stop flights from Beijing to Cambodia as early as November this year, officials said yesterday. Director of the Air Transport Department of Cambodia’s State Secretariat of Civil Aviation, Vann Chanty, said that officials from ...

Kim Hyun-joong is looking at you. From a poster outside of a hair salon, from a shop window, in a TV commercial or on local social media sites, the South Korean singer and actor decorates various advertisements in Phnom Penh. But it isn’t just about his ...