Economy and commerce
Investment
MFone workers told to wait
Former employees of the failed telecommunications company MFone have been told they can expect a decision next month on their claims for more than $4 million in compensation. Former Mfone section manager Bou Kunthea said after a meeting yesterday with offic-ials from the Ministry of Social ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013032062036/Business/mfone-workers-told-to-wait.html
Motorcycle lease firm plans to expand market share
CAMBODIA’S first financial leasing company plans to rev up its market share for motorcycle financing from 15 to 45 percent starting this year. GL Finance plans to do so by increasing its number of branches here from 11 to 36, said Mitsuji Konoshita, chairman of Group ...
Myanmar’s siren song
Unions and labour rights groups have spent recent months unashamedly drilling home a stark reminder: Cambodia’s minimum garment wage, at $61 per month, compares poorly with those in Thailand – where workers earn more than $200 a month – and Vietnam, which has a base ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013031861998/National/myanmar-s-siren-song.html
More SIM cards sold, providers to shrink
Sales of SIM cards reached 19.7 million last year, a 21 per cent rise from the 16.2 million sold in 2011, data from the Ministry of Post and Telecommunication (MPTC) shows. In contrast to the use of SIM cards, the number of telco operators decreased. In ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013031861984/Business/more-sim-cards-sold-providers-to-shrink.html
First crop of stevia is successful: company
Stevia Nutra Corporation, a Canadian agro-company, said in a press release on Friday that the initial growing season of stevia, commonly known as sweetleaf, in Cambodia was successfully completed. The first harvest of high-quality stevia leaves has now commenced and samples have been prepared for testing ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013031861981/Business/first-crop-of-stevia-is-successful-company.html
Bountiful work, but scant wages angers Cambodia
As night falls in Phonm Penh, thousands of weary workers stream from textile factories, reflecting the abundance of jobs created by the clothing industry’s desire for cheap labor. However, as the number of international clothes companies tapping into Cambodia’s workforce grows, so does anger at the ...
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/biz/archives/2013/03/17/2003557254
Sugar Playing Catch-Up With Spice
Dotted with rice fields flanked by palm trees, Cambodia’s southeastern province of Kampong Speu is nothing short of picturesque. But behind the idyllic exterior is an on-going struggle to turn this region’s natural beauty into a global attraction and improve the lot of poor local farmers, ...
http://www.iede.co.uk/news/2013_1290/sugar-playing-catch-spice
Group Lease eyes Laos, Vietnam markets
Group Lease Plc (GL), the SET-listed motorcycle leasing firm, is planning to expand into Laos and Vietnam next year after a successful move into Cambodia last year. Mitsuji Konoshita, the chairman and chief executive, said both Laos and Vietnam are promising markets, while the company ...
http://www.bangkokpost.com/business/financialadvice/340373/group-lease-eyes-laos-vietnam-markets
Low pay fuels anger among Cambodia's garment workers
As night falls thousands of weary workers stream from textile factories that fan out across Phnom Penh’s outskirts. The clothing industry’s desire for cheap labour having created an abundance of jobs but as the number of international clothes companies tapping into Cambodia’s workforce grows, so does ...
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_asiapacific/view/1259888/1/.html
NagaCorp raises $156 million from top-up placement
NagaCorp, a gaming and entertainment hotel complex operator in Cambodia, has raised HK$1.21 billion ($156 million) from a top-up placement, after fixing the price at the bottom of the indicative range. The deal was launched at around 6pm yesterday in Hong Kong time, and the ...
http://www.financeasia.com/News/336436,nagacorp-raises-156-million-from-top-up-placement.aspx
Indian Firms Look To Cambodia Industries
A delegation of 15 Indian firms is in Cambodia this week looking to increase the country’s involvement in Cambodia’s economy, particularly in the agriculture and mining sectors. At present, Cambodia does modest trade with India, the second largest country in the world by population. But the ...
Indirect trade with India unhealthy
CAMBODIA’S indirect trade and investments with India are possibly worth almost five times more than its direct economic activities, a situation deemed “unfavourable” to the country, an industry expert said yesterday. Direct trade and investments between the two countries hit a record $112 million last ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013031461933/Business/indirect-trade-with-india-unhealthy.html
Sweet Prospects
The sugar palm is a national symbol for Cambodia. Harvested by the country’s poor for centuries, no part of the palm tree goes to waste in a process that fashions the tree into a range of products. The durable and strong leaves are weaved into ...
More capital for factories
The government approved 103 factories with a combined investment of $660 million last year a big increase from the previous year’s 52 factories valued at $230 million, according to data from the Council for the Development of Cambodia. Industry representatives and economists said the sharp ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013031361912/Business/more-capital-for-plants.html
Footwear Sector To Have ‘Running Room’
Cambodia’s footwear industry has experienced significant growth over the past five years, with the number of factories doubling, according to data from the Ministry of Commerce. Meanwhile, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) has announced it will monitor and report on footwear factories. As of November, 45 ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013031361901/Business/footwear-sector-to-have-running-room.html
ASEAN countries agree to greater economic cooperation
Senior representatives for Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam and ASEAN met here Tuesday and issued a joint statement highlighting their agreement to forge stronger mutual investment, trade, transport and scientific cooperation links. The joint statement was released at the conclusion of the 6th annual Cambodia-Laos-Myanmar-Vietnam (CLMV) Summit, ...
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/business/2013-03/12/c_132228469.htm
Turkey to enhance diplomatic ties with Cambodia
Turkey is willing to establish an embassy residence in Cambodia in order to promote bilateral relations and cooperation between the two countries, the newly- designated ambassador of Turkey to Cambodia, Osman Bulent Tulun said Tuesday. The two countries’ bilateral trade is relatively small. According to ...
Risk Of Money Laundering Grows With Economy
With Cambodia currently seen as a country where the laundering of illicit cash may be going undetected, an international expert yesterday warned that economic growth and more international trade could leave the country open to financial crime. Gert Demmink, a former head of supervision at ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/risk-of-money-laundering-grows-with-economy-14444/
Hun Sen says Wage Changes Are Not Up To The Government
Prime Minister Hun Sen said yesterday that the government has no role in setting the minimum wage, as Cambodia is a market driven economy, and shot down unnamed people who have been calling for the government to significantly raise the country’s floor wage of $61. “For ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/hun-sen-says-wage-changes-are-not-up-to-government-14455/
US Firm to Open Its Second Casino in Cambodia
A U.S.-listed gaming company is set to open its second casino in Cambodia next month, the company said as it announced its revenues had grown to more than $20 million in 2012. Entertainment Gaming Asia Inc. (EGA), which is backed by Macau-based Melco International Development Limited ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/us-firm-to-open-its-second-casino-in-cambodia-14421/
Chinese Firms Foresee Industrial Hub in Preah Vihear
Preah Vihear province – The residents of this sleepy district, on the edge of the Boeng Per Wildlife Sanctuary, grow rice, cassava and cashew nuts. But in a few short years, Chinese investors envisage that Rovieng will be rapidly transformed into an industrial town. ...
Cambodia’s Economic Growth Will Help Poverty Reduction
Cambodia economic growth was 7.3 percent in 2012. Agriculture grew by 4.3 percent, crops by 4.9 percent, fisheries by 6.7 percent, industry by 9.2 percent, garment [sector] by 6.9 percent and the service industry by 8.1 percent, said Dr Hang Chuon Naron, Secretary of State ...
Renaissance upgrades Okvau
Shares in Renaissance Minerals jumped after the company announced a 1.2 million ounce gold resource at its Okvau deposit in Cambodia. Emerging from the trading halt this morning, the company revealed an indicated and inferred resource of 15.6 million tonnes at 2.4 grams per tonne gold ...
http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/business/a/-/national/16325176/renaissance-upgrades-okvau/
Hana plugs into Cambodian market
Hana Microelectronics Plc is investing 1.5 billion baht to build a new factory in Lamphun and another in Koh Kong, the latter marking a plunge into the Cambodian market. Chief executive Richard Han also hinted yesterday that the SET-listed electronic-parts maker could relocate some production from ...
http://www.bangkokpost.com/business/economics/339371/hana-plugs-into-cambodian-market