Economy and commerce

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, ...

The price of paddy rice in Cambodia’s northwestern provinces jumped to 1,500 riel from 1,350 riel per kilogram in mid-October on a lack of supply, but quickly fell to 1,360 riel. Meanwhile, the prices in the Cambodia-Vietnam border provinces rose from 1,300 riel to 1,390 ...

The National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) and a microfinance industry insider applauded one of Cambodia’s top 10 MFIs Sathapana Limited, for changing the majority shareholder to a commercial bank. They said it proves a positive and strong funding source is essential for MFIs to peruse their ...

With the recent announcement that two Taiwanese banks plan to open branches in Cambodia, the number of commercial banks in the country will swell to 34 and may even go higher as foreign businesses seriously consider Cambodia an alternative to more costly countries such as ...

A mission trip to Cambodia earlier this year opened Roger Pickett’s eyes to the need to boost the Cambodian home furnishings industry. Now Pickett, president of MurMaid Mattress here, is hoping to help a nonprofit group open a mattress factory in that country and give Cambodians ...

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 ...

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. ...

The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, along with Prey Veng provincial agriculture experts and villagers in Svay Ourntor district, are taking measures to eradicate golden apple snails, which feed on rice seedlings, agriculture officials said. According to Prey Veng agriculture chief Ouk Samnang, only a ...

Officials confirmed there were more than 20,000 participants at the job fair on Saturday organised by the National Employment Agency of the Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training, which was held in an effort to educate job seekers about current opportunities. Sokkhon David, acting director of information ...

Two senior officials in Preah Vihear under investigation by the Anti-Corruption Unit have been removed from their posts, including a tax officer who it is alleged had gotten away without officially stamping tax forms for an entire year, the ACU announced on Friday “We found that ...

Cambodia spent $1.22 billion to purchase petroleum from foreign suppliers in the first nine months of this year, a 18 percent rise compared with $1.03 billion it spent during the same period last year, a Commerce Ministry’s report showed Monday. ...

A week after the European Parliament issued a damning resolution on Cambodia’s human-rights situation and called for a revoking of trade privileges, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has shot back. “It is essential for the EU parliament to study and better understand the situation before passing ...

Trade between Cambodia and Thailand increased by about 40 per cent to US$3 billion in the first nine months of this year in comparison with the same period last year, according to figures provided by the Royal Embassy of Thailand in Cambodia. According to Nat Vimonchandra, ...

Investment in construction in the Kingdom during the first nine months of this year rose 83.6 per cent, according to data from Ministry of Land Management Urban Planning and Construction last week. The data showed that during the first nine months of this year the ministry ...

An Indonesian trade delegation is scheduled to visit Cambodia this month to finalize a trade deal that could see up to 100,000 tons of rice exported to Indonesia each year, Thon Virak, director general of state-owned rice exporter Green Trade Co., said on Friday. “Indonesia wants ...

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 ...

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 ...

The number of foreign tourists arriving in Cambodia increased 23 per cent in the third quarter of the year compared to the same period last year, according to new statistics from the Ministry of Tourism.  The data show the number of tourists who arrived in the ...

Maruhan Japan Bank yesterday became the first commercial bank in Cambodia to make a direct equity investment into a microfinance institution by becoming Sathapana’s majority shareholder, with a 95.1 per cent stake. Financial details were not disclosed. ...

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 ...

Indonesia will import 100,000 tons of rice from Cambodia next month, Trade Ministry director general for foreign trade Deddy Saleh has said. The importation is a follow up from a joint trade agreement signed in August this year. “For the first batch, we will import 100,000 tons ...

Cambodia rose five places in the World Bank’s annual Doing Business study to 133I’d out of 185 countries, largely due to the establishment of a credit bureau, which makes acquiring loans easier. The report, which ranks countries in 10 categories on the ease of doing ...

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 ...

The sale and purchase of land along National Road 3 is increasing in volume but land prices are not increasing significantly despite the road being completed, and despite the many industrial zones along it.  Based on his company’s research in the second quarter of this year, ...