Economy and commerce
Trade
Maids set to work abroad, but safety fears linger
After a three-year moratorium on sending maids overseas—sparked by a spate of serious abuses by recruiters and employers—momentum is building to once again send hundreds of thousands of Cambodian women to work overseas as domestic servants. Since Prime Minister Hun Sen shut down the industry in ...
Matt Blomberg
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/maids-set-to-work-abroad-but-safety-fears-linger-58853/
Longans longing for storage
The amount of land used to grow longans has doubled in the past two years, but a lack of supply-chain infrastructure is hampering farmers’ ability to get top dollar for their product, the fruit’s body says. Sreng Sreang, deputy director of the Pailin Longan Farmers’ Community ...
Chan Muyhong
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/longans-longing-storage
Cambodia exports to US rise by over 10 pct
Driven by a slowly recovering American economy, Cambodian exports to the US increased 11 per cent in the first quarter of 2014 compared with the same period last year, according to the latest US government data. Cambodian exports from January to March totalled $771 million, up ...
Eddie Morton
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/cambodia-exports-us-rise-over-10-pct
Caltex loosing hundreds of thousands of dollars, striking workers say
Chevron’s Caltex gas stations are potentially losing hundreds of thousands of dollars per day in Cambodia, striking employees say. Workers say Caltex, a subsidiary of US-based multinational Chevron, sells between 5,000 to 10,000 liters per station per day, putting its losses between $350,000 to $700,000 ...
Khoun Theara,
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/caltex-loosing-hundreds-of-thousands-of-dollars-striking-workers-say/1914429.html
Strike by Cambodian Caltex staff enters 3rd day after wage talks fail
Cambodian workers for the U.S.- owned Caltex petrol stations in Phnom Penh continued their strike for higher wages Wednesday after wage negotiations late Tuesday failed to reach any agreement. Strike leader Sar Mora, president of the Cambodian Food and Service Workers Federation, said some 300 Caltex ...
Xinhuanet News
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2014-05/14/c_133332966.htm
Baby formula brands place profit above health
Dara Raksmey, the owner of a pharmacy of the same name on Phnom Penh’s Street 294, keeps a record of every can of Dumex baby formula she sells. “If you buy six large cans you get a scooter and if you buy 12 large cans you ...
Ouch Sony and George Wright
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/baby-formula-brands-place-profit-above-health-58635/
Deal would send workers to Saudi Arabia
Cambodia is nearing a deal that would open a pipeline of workers to Saudi Arabia, a country where Southeast Asian migrants have in the past been abused and even executed for crimes that include “sorcery”. Following a meeting in Hanoi last week with Saudi Ambassador Salah ...
Alice Cuddy
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/deal-would-send-workers-saudi-arabia
Illegal wood exports to China tripled in 2013
Cambodia’s exports of protected rosewood and other high-value timber to China more than tripled last year, according to U.N. figures cited in a new report that blames lax law enforcement across the Mekong region and skyrocketing demand in China for pushing some species to the ...
Zsombor Peter
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/illegal-wood-exports-to-china-tripled-in-2013-58593/
Ivory haul investigation kept under wraps
Customs officials over the weekend said they will shed no further light on Friday’s massive haul of three tons of illegal elephant ivory at Sihanoukville Autonomous Port—Cambodia’s biggest-ever ivory seizure—until investigations are complete and a case can be sent to court. A scan on containers that ...
Saing Soenthrith
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/ivory-haul-investigation-kept-under-wraps-58470/
For Union Leader on Run, Militant Attitude Prevails
Tax revenue increased 9.5 percent to $353.46 million in the first quarter of the year, compared to the same period last year, according to a statement released Friday by the Ministry of Finance’s general department of taxation. Kong Vibol, general director of the taxation department, said ...
Hul Reaksmey
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/tax-revenue-up-9-5-percent-in-first-quarter-58489/
Standards must improve: official
Small food and beverage makers are at risk of being uncertified when the ASEAN economic community takes shape in 2015, with the vast majority far from achieving international quality and safety standards, a government official says. Him Phanith, the deputy director of National Productivity Center, said ...
Chan Muyhong
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/standards-must-improve-official
Economic expansion of Cambodia; an opportunity for Thai entrepreneurs
The retail marketing business in Cambodia has been growing at approximately 8% a year for the last 10 years and is expected to increase by 7.5% a year from 2014-2018. This economic expansion and greater purchasing power of Cambodians, is seen as presenting great opportunities ...
National News Bureau of Thailand
http://thainews.prd.go.th/centerweb/newsen/NewsDetail?NT01_NewsID=WNRPT5705080010001
Exports of rubber up, but prices on the fall
Despite a large increase in exports during the first quarter, natural rubber producers continue to see declining revenues, as world prices fall further. The latest figures from the Ministry of Commerce show natural rubber exports grew 26 per cent during the first quarter of 2014, compared ...
Chan Muyhong
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/exports-rubber-prices-fall
GI products closer to fruition
Three of Cambodia’s most iconic natural products – Thma Koul rice, Kampot durian and Cambodian silk – have been earmarked by the government to obtain the World Trade Organization’s Geographical Indication (GI) status. Speaking to reporters after a press conference on GI registration at the Ministry ...
Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/gi-products-closer-fruition
Cambodia-U.S. trade up 11 pct in Q1
Bilateral trade volume between Cambodia and the United States had amounted to 845 million U.S. dollars in the first three months of 2014. The number saw a 11-percent rise from 758 million U.S. dollars over the same period last year, figures release by the U.S. Department ...
Shanghai Daily
http://www.shanghaidaily.com/article/article_xinhua.aspx?id=216833
A way of life falls with trees
The Phnong ethnic minority in Mondulkiri province have heard the promises of development before. With increasing investment and the selling off of the region’s forests will come new roads and schools, they are told. But people in this ancient community, tired of seeing their sacred forests handed ...
May Titthara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/way-life-falls-trees
Aeon microfinance booms with mall on horizon
When Sor Songheng, a manager for an accountancy firm, wanted to replace his cheap Nokia phone a few months ago, he set his heart on a top-of-the-line iPhone 5S worth $780—nearly his entire monthly salary of $800. But instead of scrimping and saving for months to ...
George Styllis
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/aeon-microfinance-booms-with-mall-on-horizon-58122/
Cambodia exports 120,291 tons rice January-April, 2014; up 1.5% from last year
Cambodia exported about 120,291 tons of rice in first four months of calendar year 2014, up about 1.5% from about 118,504 tons rice exported in the same period last year, according to data from the Secretariat of One Window Service of Rice Export Formality (SOWS-REF). ...
Oryza News Staff
http://oryza.com/news/rice-news/cambodia-exports-120291-tons-rice-january-april-2014-15-last-year
Ibis Rice exports on horizon
The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) says its Ibis Rice project has recorded a production surplus for the first time in its five-year history, prompting a bid to export the boutique product overseas. Concentrated in Preah Vihear province, Ibis Rice farmers produced more than 435 tonnes of ...
Eddie Morton
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/ibis-rice-exports-horizon
Flood concerns eased by cassava price hikes
Despite flood damage causing reduced production levels, cassava farmers in Pailin province are benefiting from an increase in the purchasing price, provincial department of agriculture officials say. “This year’s harvest dropped to 25 tonnes per hectare from 30 tonnes per hectare last season because of the ...
Chan Muyhong
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/flood-concerns-eased-cassava-price-hikes-0
Port volume on the rise in Q1
Cargo volumes at Cambodia’s two largest ports increased steadily during the first three months of the year, signalling stability in the Kingdom’s economy, port officials say. Data from Sihanoukville Autonomous Port (SAP), Cambodia’s largest shipping dock, showed more than 860,000 20-foot-long shipping containers passed through the ...
May Kunmakara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/port-volume-rise-q1
Customs and Excise Director to retire
Pen Siman, the general director of the Ministry of Finance’s general department of customs and excise, will retire in October, according to a royal decree signed by King Norodom Sihamoni and reprinted Wednesday in local media. Dated April 3, the royal decree instructs Prime Minister Hun ...
Hul Reaksmey
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/customs-and-excise-director-to-retire-57879/
Uneasy calm in Bavet as factories ordered shut
BAVET CITY, Svay Rieng province – The government has ordered all factories here to shut down until Thursday at the earliest in a bid to keep escalating strikes from spiraling out of control and spreading nationwide. “[Provincial] Governor Chieng Am said in a meeting yesterday [Monday] ...
Zsombor Peter and Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/uneasy-calm-in-bavet-as-factories-ordered-shut-57723/
Aeon reports record revenue amid ASEAN expansion
Aeon Co, the Japanese firm developing the soon-to-be-opened Aeon Mall on Phnom Penh’s Sothearos Boulevard, has reported a record $62.3 billion in revenue for its financial year ending February 28. The company, which has more than 260 subsidiaries, including the shopping centre development arm Aeon Mall ...
Eddie Morton
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/aeon-reports-record-revenue-amid-asean-expansion