Trade
Exports
Bra factory workers look to ministry for support
About 300 workers entered their sixth day of strikes yesterday at a bra factory in the capital, which manufactures lingerie supplied to Victoria’s Secret and Valentino, but their hopes of a quick resolution were dashed when a Ministry of Social Affairs official admitted he was ...
Rice Production Increases as Country Moves Toward 2015 Export Goal
Economists and agriculture officials say Cambodia could export 1 million tons of milled rice by 2015, but that depends on improvements in the sector, along with some global factors out of the control of the country’s farmers and millers. Prime Minister Hun Sen has set the ...
India shows interest in cashew nut processing
India is considering establishing a cashew nut processing factory in Cambodia to curb exports to India from third countries, according to officials at the Indian embassy. Dinesh Patniak, the ambassador to Cambodia, said Cambodia produced a lot of cashew nuts that were sent to Vietnam for ...
Garment Workers Set Tires on Fire as Tax Protest Continues
About 600 garment factory workers continued their strike in Phnom Penh yesterday, setting car tires alight to protest what they said were unfair salary cuts but factory representatives and labor officials described as a normal tax on income. “The factory told us that they cut our ...
Ensure fairness, Kirk advises
Cambodia needs to ensure fair treatment of both domestic and foreign investors if it wants to attract more foreign investors, accordsing to US Trade Representative Ron Kirk. Kirk presented the idea during a press conference last week in Siem Reap durig the ASEAN-US Business Summit by ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012090558496/Business/ensure-fairness-kirk-advises.html
Questions over bonuses
Unions and labour groups fear a solitary sick day could cost garment workers their entire month’s attendance bonuses – about 15 per cent of their base wage – under a new scheme meant to make life easier. The Kingdom’s 600,000 garment and footwear workers will receive ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012090558510/National-news/questions-over-bonuses.html
Emerging Mining Sector to Be Subject to Grassroots Scrutiny
As mining companies continue to scour Cambodia for minerals, work is also under way to build a network of local monitors and activists to shed light on the country’s often-opaque mining sector and its practices. {T]he Ministry of Industry, Mines and Energy has granted an unknown ...
Needs compared with the UK
Cambodia’s needs and how they overlap with the UK’s strengths are an important issue in trade and investment relations between the two countries, according to British Ambassador Mark Gooding during a presentation to the Cambodian Chamber of Commerce (CCC) yesterday. Bilateral trade is mainly driven by ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012090458466/Business/uk-to-diversify-trade-ambassador.html
ASEAN push for integration
ASEAN economic ministers on Friday agreed to spur stronger cooperation and make more of an effort to enhance the region’s integration in preparation for the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) in 2015. Speaking during the press conference on the closing of the 44th ASEAN Economic Ministers’ Meeting ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012090358439/Business/asean-push-for-integration.html
Garment Factory Monitoring Needs to Improve
The International Labor Organization’s (ILO) Better Factories Cambodia (BFC) program must overhaul its monitoring practices before it can meaningfully improve working conditions in the garment sector, accoring to the authors of a new report. the new report by Community Legal Education Center and the Netherlands-based ...
Indian Chamber of Commerce Launches in Capital
About 100 Indian businessmen and government officials gathered in Phnom Penh yesterday for the official launch of the Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in Cambodia. Speaking at the launch the ICC president, Debasish Pattnaik, said that since the new organization registered with the government in February, it has gained 54 ...
Investment treaty with US discussed
The United States and Cambodia have agreed to begin discussions on a bilateral investment treaty (BIT) in a bid to spur trade and investment between the two countries, officials said on Friday following the end of the ASEAN-US Business Summit in Siem Reap. “A bilateral investment ...
'Verbal Abuse' surfaces at Ocean
An investigation by garment factory monitor Better Factories Cambodia into the alleged sexual harassment of four female employees at Ocean Garment uncovered extensive verbal abuse, according to BFC technical adviser Jill Tucker. A BFC team visited the Dangkor district site on August 24 after a group ...
Fainting workers blame fumes
Almost 150 garment factory workers from two Phnom Penh factories fainted late last week after inhaling toxic fumes used to treat clothes, workers and union leaders said yesterday. The mass faintings came as the Clean Clothes Campaign and Community Legal Education Center released an evaluation report ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012090358448/National-news/fainting-workers-blame-fumes.html
Report Urges Better Factories to do more
Better Factories Cambodia must name and shame garment factories that abuse the labour law if it is to transform Cambodia into an ethical sourcing option, a report on the International Labor Organization initiative says. Better Factories should make monitoring reports public, according to the 10 Years ...
Cambodia Import-Export The First Half Year Analysis
Although the Cambodian government has projected Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of around 7 percent this year, a bit higher than come other international financial organizations like the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), it does not mean that the country’s projection could not ...
US firms suggest ASEAN improve financial services
Although US businesses across ASEAN have expressed a positive investment outlook towards Cambodia and the other members of the regional group, they are unsure of how to take advantage of the free-trade agreement with China, insiders said at the first-ever ASEAN-US Business Summit, which kicked ...
Ocean Garment strike to end, workers return
More than 50 police officers exchanged heated words with Ocean Garment strikers yesterday afternoon, marching for over an hour to Phnom Penh Municipal Court in support of five worker representatives suspended by the company. Mid-protest, however, the group of more than 2,500 – who have been ...
Special tax exemption on goods grown in Cambodia
The Government has agreed to grant tax exemption for farm goods grown in Cambodia by Vietnamese enterprises and individuals and imported for processing Statistics show that in southern Tay Ninh Province alone 120 individuals from the districts of Chau Thanh, Tan Bien, Trang Bang and Tan ...
Incitement Charge for Chhun
Global brands Levi’s and Gap had continued slashing orders at the Tai Yang and Camwell factories in Kandal province, costing the company that owns them about US$6 million, its manager claimed yesterday. Tai Yang Enterprises manager Wu Minghuor said the brands had reduced their orders from ...
'Suspicious suspect' in Bavet shooting named
Police in Svay Rieng province said yesterday a Bavet town police officer had been under court-ordered supervision since last week on suspicion of being involved in the February shooting at a garment factory protest in the Special Economic Zone there. Provincial police chief Prach Rim said ...
Cambodia to boost China rice exports
Cambodia expects to export around 300,000 tonnes of milled rice to China per year, Minister of Commerce Cham Prasidh said during the 44th ASEAN Economic Ministers Meeting in Siem Reap. Speaking to reporters after a meeting with Chinese Minister of Commerce Chen Deming on Tuesday night, ...
Cambodia to Export 100,000 Tons of Rice to Indonesia
Commerce Minister Cham Prasidh yesterday signed an agreement with Indonesia’s Trade Minister Gita Wijrawan to export 100,000 tons of milled rice to Indonesia every year, officials said. Although the details-such as when the exports will begin and where the rice will be sourced-have yet to be ...
Rice export MoU signed
Cambodia has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) yesterday to export 100,000 tonnes of rice per year to Indonesia. Senior Cambodian officials hope the MoU will be the impetus for attracting more investments from other ASEAN member states. The MoU was signed between Cambodia’s Minister of ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012082958338/Business/rice-export-mou-signed.html