Industries
Manufacturing
CAMBODIA: H&M hits back at low wage claims
Swedish fashion retailer H&M has hit back at accusations that it fails to pay adequate wages to workers in Cambodian factories making its clothes – and says instead that the situation would be a lot worse if it didn’t source from the country ...
http://www.just-style.com/news/hm-hits-back-at-low-wage-claims_id115952.aspx
H&M slammed over wages
Criticism has mounted against Swedish multinational clothing company H&M in its home country following a documentary released last week that sheds light on wages in its source factories in Cambodia. The episode of Swedish network TV4’s Kalla Fakta, or Cold Facts, focuses mainly on Cambodian garment ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012102959442/National-news/ham-slammed-over-wages.html
Major boulevards increasing in price
The sale and purchase of land along the four major boulevards in Phnom Penh climbed up to 40 per cent in the third quarter of 2012, while the construction of offices is gradually on the rise, according to real estate experts. The growth of land prices ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/Real-Estate/land-price-along-boulevards-on-the-rise.html
Foreigners entering the condo market in Phnom Penh
The number of foreign owners of houses in Cambodia has soared in recent years after the government permitted foreigners to have rights over owning real estate in the Kingdom, according to officials of the Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction. Speaking at the opening of ...
Cambodia issues licenses to 2,606 new firms in 9 months, up 11 percent
Cambodia had granted operating licenses to 2,606 new companies in the first nine months of this year, a 11 percent rise from 2,336 new firms at the same period a year ago, the report of the Commerce Ministry showed Wednesday. Those companies are dealing in the ...
Cambodia's Ancient Silk Industry Hangs by a Fine Thread
Welcome to Cambodia’s lone Silkworm Egg Production Center, and to the techniques that are being used to prevent and monitor diseases that are currently killing off more than 50 percent of all silkworm production in the country. Established by the U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/cambodias-ancient-silk-industry-hangs-by-a-fine-thread-4662/
Buying property by installment on the increase
The market for Khmer home-buyers purchasing property by installments is booming, according to experts. Keuk Narin, vice president of Asia Real Estate Cambodia, said the concept of buying homes by installments in Cambodia is very attractive to those whom want to buy a house. Almost all housing projects that offer installment purchases see good business, ...
National Road 1 prices on the rise
Land prices along National Road 1 have climbed between 20 and 30 per cent after the road was extended in response to the increasing amounts of vehicles using it. The land that surrounds National Road 1 can be divided into three locations according to the ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/Real-Estate/national-road-1-prices-on-the-rise.html
Economy Strong but IMF Warns of Risks
Strong exports, increasing numbers of tourists and a recovering real estate sector are driving strong economic growth this year, but the gross domestic product outlook could still be offset by an unstable global economy, weak demand from the West and an overheating banking sector, the International ...
Cambodian Resorts on the Increase
International tourist arrivals into Cambodia have soared in the past year, with arrivals into Siem Reap up 30 per cent in the first eight months of 2012 over the same period the previous year. The tourist industry was hit hard by the global economic crisis in ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/Real-Estate/cambodian-resorts-on-the-increase.html
Silk Air celebrates 20 years in Kingdom
Nagaworld Hotel was the venue for Monday night’s occasion, exactly 20 years after the very first Silk Air flight into Phnom Penh on October 1, 1992. The event came on the same evening as the launch of Tiger Airways’ service between Phnom Penh and Singapore ...
New condominium launched
A new real estate joint venture between local Sonatra Group and Japan’s Grand Corp launched a $6.5 million condominium project in BKK1 yesterday. The 26-storey tower, with 50 units, will be built with high-quality, energy-saving Japanese equipment, according to the new firm’s chief executive, Jun Takeguchi. ...
100 Kg of Fish Killed by 6-ton Chemical Spill
An estimated 100 kg of fish were killed and about 1,000 villagers were told not to drink from a stream that was contaminated with 6 tons of an unknown chemical substance in Kompong Chhnang province on Tuesday night, police said. A truck carrying 22 containers of ...
Mind the wage gap
Most mornings, garment worker Vicheka buys food from the street vendors outside her factory in Kampong Chhnang province. The beef and pork dishes, she says, have a tendency to give workers a stomach ache – a reputation forged long before Vicheka and her co-workers at ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012092858979/National-news/mind-the-wage-gap.html
Bank Collapse Sees Property Up for Grabs
A prime piece of Phnom Penh real estate was put up for auction last week by a South Koran government agency attempting to recoup taxpayers’ money lost during a bank collapse last year. Bids have been made that could see a new development on the site, ...
Protesters Stage EU faint-ins
In a year in which more than a thousand Cambodian garment factory workers have fainted on the job, activists across Europe are demonstrating for higher wages and better working conditions in the Kingdom’s factories. Throughout the past week, demonstrators mimicked faintings by collapsing on the floors ...
Activists Stage Flash “Faint-Ins” at H&M, Gap to Protest Sweatshop Conditions
Dozens of human-rights activists are staging flash “faint-ins” at high-street retailers across Europe to illustrate the high incidence of mass fainting in Cambodia’s apparel factories. Protestors from the Clean Clothes Campaign, an alliance of organizations in 15 European countries dedicated to improving working conditions in ...
http://www.ecouterre.com/activists-stage-flash-faint-ins-at-hm-gap-to-protest-sweatshop-conditions/
Price of imported raw silk decreases
The price of imported raw silk decreased to US$44 per kilogram even as raw silk production fell off, according to industry insiders. Imported raw silk dropped 12 per cent to $44 per kilogram compared to $50 per kilogram last May. Cambodia Craft Federation CEO Soeng Kemyun, said ...
SCG vows Asean coverage
Siam Cement Group (SCG), the country’s top industrial conglomerate, says its logistics unit will cover Asean and southern China within five years, partly through mergers and acquisitions. Kan Trakulhoon, the president and chief executive, said the expansion will accommodate growing regional trade under the Asean Economic ...
http://www.bangkokpost.com/business/economics/308580/scg-vows-asean-coverage
New report evaluates decade of Better Factories Cambodia
A new report – 10 Years of the Better Factories Cambodia Project: A critical evaluation – has been released by Clean Clothes Campaign and Community Legal Education Center. Started in 2001, the goal of the Better Factories program is to improve the working conditions in ...
http://www.fibre2fashion.com/news/apparel-news/newsdetails.aspx?news_id=115382
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 ...
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 ...
Garment Workers Rally for Third Day to Sack Factory Manager
More than 2,00 female workers from a factory in Phnom Penh that makes clothes for the U.S. brand Gap protested yesterday for a third straight day demanding that the firm sack a manager at the factory for allegedly abusing workers. Lining Russian Boulevard near the Ocean ...