Garments and textiles

Because of improved working conditions in garment and footwear factories across the Kingdom, the government yesterday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to continue implementing the Better Factories Cambodia (BFC) program for three more years. During a celebration commemorating the 15th anniversary of BFC, Labor Minister ...

Unions are still seething at the new minimum wage figure for garment and footwear industry workers – which the government decided to raise by only $13 per month last Thursday – but stopped short of saying they would organize protests out of a fear for ...

Cambodian factories manufactured industrial products worth $5.3 billion during the first seven months of 2016, according to data released yesterday by the Ministry of Industry and Handicraft.​ ...

A roadshow to Hong Kong this week to pitch Cambodia’s newly received duty-free access on travel goods to the US market was successful, but manufacturers have yet to sign concrete deals to establish new production lines here, a delegate of the returning business mission said. ...

Unions decided to lower their demand for $179.60 per month as the new minimum wage for the garment, footwear and textile industries in 2017, telling employers yesterday that they were dropping the figure by $2 – matching the $2 employers added to their figure earlier ...

The Ministry of Labor is preparing to enact regulations that would provide some amount of monetary relief to workers left in the lurch by factory owners who flee the country. The widespread practice has led to a number of months-long protests as more and more factory ...

Political uncertainty in Cambodia has forced the garment and footwear industry to look to alternative countries to meet production needs, forcing more than 70 factories to close and a sharp drop in orders, a senior official from the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia (GMAC) said ...

Investors in Cambodia’s garment industry are increasingly purchasing modern equipment as they look to produce higher value-added products to compete in the international market and counter rising labour costs, an industry insider said yesterday. ...

Cambodia’s total exports of garments and footwear to Japan increased sharply in the first half of the year, according to latest figures from the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO). ...

The industry body for the nation’s garment and footwear manufacturers said new trade data showing a decline in Cambodian exports to the US during the first half of the year was a sign that the Kingdom was losing its competitive advantage, threatening the future of ...

The National Assembly’s (NA) Second Commission on Economics, Finance, Banking and Auditing yesterday asked the European Union (EU) to increase rice and clothing import quotas from Cambodia, after a discussion on EU subsidies to the Kingdom. ...

The E.U.’s ambassador to Cambodia said he would weigh appeals from pro-government unions critical of a call by opposition party leader Sam Rainsy to push the government to improve its human rights record through increased economic pressure. ...

Opposition leader Sam Rainsy has been in hot water since he told an EU parliamentary meeting on July 13 that he wanted them to consider decreasing garment imports from Cambodia in the hope it would pressure Prime Minister Hun Sen and his government into complying ...

Opposition leader Sam Rainsy has asked the European Union (EU) to decrease imports of clothing from Cambodia in an effort to put economic pressure on the government into respecting human rights and freedom of speech, saying he believed the act would not affect workers.   ...

The jobs of nearly 90% of garment and footwear workers in Cambodia and Vietnam are at risk from automated assembly lines – or “sewbots” – according to a new report from the International Labour Organisation (ILO). ...

The labor dispute between workers and employers at the Aerosoft Summit Footwear factory in Battambang province’s Sampov Laun district is still raging due to the company’s refusal to allow workers back to the factory at the provincial governor’s request. ...

Local industry experts responded yesterday to a new report that warns the majority of Cambodia’s garment sector workers could lose their jobs in the coming two decades as automation and innovative technologies replace low-skilled labour and allow multinational producers to move their operations closer to ...

The latest Better Factories Cambodia report has found that 47 per cent of 381 assessed factories complied with its most important working conditions – up from 28 per cent in 2014. ...

The total value of exports from the Kingdom’s garment and footwear industry increased sharply this first quarter by 39.1 percent to some $2 billion compared to about $1.5 billion in the same period last year, according to figures released by the Ministry of Commerce. ...

After posting an overall decline in profit of 70 per cent in 2015, Grand Twins International (GTI), the only publicly traded garment firm, reported bullish earnings for the first quarter of this year signalling hope that the manufacturer could launch a winning streak. ...

The Ministry of Labour met with Malaysian-owned Global Apparels Limited factory representatives, union officials and workers yesterday, to negotiate an agreement for compensation as the company closes down.    ...

The Thai government plans to build a special economic zone (SEZ) worth about $141.6 million in Sa Kaeo, which borders the Kingdom’s Banteay Meanchey and Battambang provinces, to serve SMEs that aim to expand their business into Cambodia, according a Thai media report. ...

Almost 600 garment workers from the Malaysian-owned Global Apparel Limited garment factory protested yesterday morning by marching from the factory to another branch 200 meters away, demanding the owners end all worker contracts at the same time. ...

Police are searching for a gang of thieves who cut through the wall of a garment factory in Kompong Speu province on Thursday before making off with nearly 3,000 shirts, according to police.   ...