Economy and commerce

Laos has stepped up plans for three hydropower dams on Mekong River tributaries, updating an eight-year-old deal with a Russian investor to build the projects for U.S. $1.5 billion. Lao authorities signed a project development agreement with Russia’s Regional Oil for the Sekong 4, Sekong 5, ...

Cambodia’s cashew-nut exports increased sharply from 443 tonnes in 2011 to 4,453 tonnes last year, according to the Ministry of Commerce. But observers say these figures do not reflect reality, as a large percentage of exports had not been recorded. An expert in cashew nut production, ...

More than 4,000 people attended a ceremony in December last year that saw Japan’s largest shopping mall developer and operator, Aeon, breaking ground on its three-storey mall in Phnom Penh, and the company says it is already considering building more in the capital. Aeon Mall ...

Although Mfone subscribers are due to transfer their accounts to Mobitel today, the Post has learned that telco provider Huawei Technologies (Cambodia) is still waiting for a court to rule on the legality of the transaction. Huawei’s lawyer, Kuoy Thunna, filed a letter late last month ...

Since 2008, a whopping $28 billion worth of investments has been pledged by local and international firms looking to set up lux­ury hotels, a new airport and even Cam­­bo­dia’s first horse racing venue. But a closer look at the list of in­vestments approved by the Cam­bodian ...

Import duties and limits, as well as rising wages in neighbouring countries, made Cambodia the second largest exporter of bicycles to the European Union after Taiwan, an industry newsletter reports. According to Bike-EU.com, which quoted data from Eurostat, Cambodia exported 519,389 units to EU countries between ...

Mobile phone subscribers in Cambodia have had little to complain about in recent years. With six new operators entering the market since 2006, the result was oversaturation and an all-out price war as eight operators fought for a foothold in a country with fewer than ...

Rice millers and exporters are optimistic that they will see an increase in exports this year after they received higher orders toward the end of 2012, producers said yesterday. Toch Tepech, president of the Svay Rieng Rice Millers Association, told the Post he had exported over ...

Rajah & Tann, Southeast Asia’s largest law firm, has expanded to Cambodia through a tie-up with local law firm Sok & Heng, which has taken on a new name, RT Sok & Heng Law Office. Rajah & Tann’s deputy managing partner, Patrick Ang, estimates that there ...

In what’s believed to be an unprecedented move, the Ratanakkiri Provincial Court has ordered two companies holding economic land concessions to face court questioning on accusations of illegal logging and land clearing. Deputy prosecutor Ros Saram said he summonsed Vietnamese-owned Company 72 last week and will ...

The area of cassava under cultivation fell by 11.5 per cent across the country this season, while the price of cassava chips remained the same as last season’s price. Officials blamed an unstable price during the previous season (from April to April) for the drop. According ...

Old Place Seafood, a Chinese restaurant that cost $4 million, has opened in Phnom Penh. A representative of the restaurant, which is opposite the Chinese embassy, said the growing number of Chinese people in the Kingdom had justified such an investment. Luu Meng, president of the ...

Representatives of a massive hydropower dam project in Stung Treng province’s Sesan district approached local authorities late last month informing them that the government had granted the company permission to clear 36,000 hec­tares of land for a reservoir, officials said on Sunday. The 400-megawatt Lower Se­san ...

A delegation comprised of Japan’s top business leaders, known as Keidanren, began a six-day trip to Myanmar and Cambodia Monday, seeking new business and investment opportunities there. Hiromasa Yonekura, chairman of the Japan Business Federation, is leading the delegation and said he hopes that meetings with ...

Revoking its decision to sack the vast majority of its work force for a prolonged strike, the Winson International garment factory agreed to allow the 868 workers back to work following negotiations late last month, worker representatives said yesterday. After mediation by officials from the Ministry ...

Loans and deposits at Cambodia’s 32 micro-finance institutions and four NGOs, as well as small loans from Acleda Bank, rose sharply last year compared with a year earlier. Industry players say this is a result of the Kingdom’s rapid economic improvement and political stability. Official data from ...

Hong Kong has banned egg imports from Cambodia due to the country’s recent avian influenza outbreak, which claimed four lives last month. “Hong Kong does not import live poultry or poultry meat from Cambodia, but 170,000 poultry eggs were imported from there last year,” the ...

Cambodia will soon boast its first tractor assembly plant, with operations expected to begin by the third quarter of this year. The one-hectare plant, in Phnom Penh’s Por Sen Chey district, is a joint venture by Belarus-based Minsk Tractor Works, one of the world’s biggest tractor producers, ...

Against the backdrop of the ongoing Thai government’s rice-pledging policy, Thai rice exports are expected to further decline this year. While it may provide opportunities for Cambodia, the country has not yet benefitted much from the policy, industry experts said. “I think the Thai rice scheme ...

Portraits of the late King Father Norodm Sihanouk covered the floor and dozens of coin-sized badges emblazoned with his image were scattered on the sidewalk in front of the Singha Mean printing house yesterday. Kuo Ransiky, the 41-year-old owner of the printshop on Phnom Penh’s street ...

Sales of plants and flowers will reach a high during the Lunar New Year celebrations in Phnom Penh, which start on Sunday, as more customers than ever before buy floral decorations for their houses, flower shop owners in Phnom Penh predicted. “During the weekend many people ...

Pirated computer software accounted for about $50 million in losses to the Cambodian economy every year, an industry expert said yesterday. According to Pily Wong, president of the ICT Business Association, about 95 per cent of the computer software used in Cambodia is counterfeit, crippling the ...

K-Cement workers who were told they could not form a company-wide union because their workplaces were “separate” entities have now had their application to register individual unions rejected by the Ministry of Labour, union leaders said yesterday. Sok Kin, vice president of the Building and Woodworkers ...

Bangchak Petroleum, a majority state-owned oil refiner and retailer in Thailand, said it wants to open five petrol stations in Cambodia, with the first station opening in 2014, the Bangkok Post reported last week. Tui Rutten, president of the Thai Business Council of Cambodia did not ...