Economy and commerce
Trade
Cambodian mangoes ship off to China
Agriculture tycoon Mong Reththy yesterday confirmed a second shipment of Koe Romeat mangoes, twice the size of the first, will be headed for China this week from his Preah Sihanouk plantation. ...
Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/cambodian-mangoes-ship-china
A logging free-for-all
The scale of mass logging in once-dense woodlands in Cambodia’s north now more closely resembles the free-for-all of a gold rush than the sustainable forestry more often associated with these communities. With the financial backing of powerful businessmen, villagers in three districts of Preah Vihear are ...
May Titthara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/logging-free-all
Costs don’t top brands’ concerns
In their latest bid for a $160 minimum monthly wage for the garment industry, independent unions will lead a “stay at home” strike late next week. While the chances of that figure being approved anytime soon seem slight – the government has only just announced a ...
Sean Teehan
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/costs-don%E2%80%99t-top-brands%E2%80%99-concerns
Ministry shake-up as AEC integration looms
The Ministry of Commerce is undergoing an internal shake-up to better position itself for the opening up of trade across the region. Commerce Minister Sun Chanthol told the Post yesterday that ahead of Asean Economic Community (AEC) integration in 2015, new divisions were being established and others realigned ...
Daniel de Carteret
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/ministry-shake-aec-integration-looms
Mercedes halts imports over luxury tax
The sole retailer of Mercedes-Benz cars into the country, Hung Hiep (Cambodia) Co., has suspended imports since January over what it claims is a new import duty on luxury cars coming into the country. Other luxury car importers including Porsche, Audi, BMW and Jaguar Land Rover, ...
George Styllis
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/mercedes-halts-imports-over-luxury-tax-56050/
Ho Chi Minh City EXPO 2014 in Cambodia opens in May
The Vietnam-Cambodia International Trade Fair and Exhibitions 2014, also known as Ho Chi Minh City EXPO 2014, will be held at Koh Pich Convention Center in Phnom Penh, Cambodia on May 7-11. ...
Thao Tien
http://www.saigon-gpdaily.com.vn/Business/2014/4/108657/
World Bank says Cambodia has most liberal foreign investment regime in ASEAN
The World Bank says Cambodia has the most open foreign direct investment regime in ASEAN while Thailand has the most restrictive. In a report released Monday, the bank also said that Cambodia had recently emerged as ASEAN’s second-biggest recipient of foreign direct investment in the agricultural ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=13&token=OGM2MTVmYTQ0NTM
Cambodia leads doubts over AEC
In a rare moment of honesty a Cambodian official has admitted his doubts about his country’s ability to meet regional expectations in time for the launch of the much vaunted ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) by the end of 2015. “If you talk about short-term: Yes, we ...
Luke Hunt
http://thediplomat.com/2014/04/cambodia-leads-doubts-over-aec/
Python peddler arrested
Police in Kandal province’s Koh Thom district seized a shipment of live pythons en route to market in Vietnam on Friday, arresting the accused smuggler and turning the snakes over to conservation group Wildlife Alliance, police said yesterday. ...
Kim Sarom
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/python-peddler-arrested
Paddy rice farms curb losses from lost land
Cambodian paddy rice production fell only slightly during the first half of this year’s dry season, despite 12,000 hectares of usually productive land deemed unusable due to last year’s floods. According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, dry season paddy rice production between December ...
Chan Muyhong
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/paddy-rice-farms-curb-losses-lost-land
Fish exports fail to impress
Cambodian fishery exports rose slightly during the first three months of the year, according to a report by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. The report, which was released yesterday, says that fish exports reached 4,800 tonnes in the first quarter, a year-on-year increase of ...
Chan Muyhong
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/fish-exports-fail-impress
Cambodian rice exports fall in Q1
As Thailand sells its rice reserves and reforms in Myanmar are rewarded with more access to markets abroad, Cambodia’s total exports of milled rice are on the decline, falling more than 10 per cent in the first quarter of this year compared with the same ...
May Kunmakara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/cambodian-rice-exports-fall-q1
ADB predicts slower growth for 2014
The Asian Development Bank on Tuesday said it expects Cambodia’s economic growth to slow slightly in 2014. In its annual “Asian Development Outlook,” the bank said it expects to see a drop in the rate from about 7.2 percent last year to 7 percent this year ...
Suy Heimkhemra
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/adb-predicts-slower-growth-for-2014/1883732.html
Big logging cartel alleged
Prime Minister Hun Sen’s brother Hun Neng and a Vietnamese state-owned rubber firm are involved in an illegal logging cartel involving several well-connected companies operating on a “massive scale” in the embattled Prey Lang forest, forest monitors working in the area allege. Video footage and photographs ...
May Titthara and Daniel Pye
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/big-logging-cartel-alleged
Rubber decline stokes worry
The government and industry insiders are worried about the steady decline of rubber prices over the last three years, during which the area it is cultivated in has grown. “Farmers and investors raised concern . . . over the trend of the market and the price of natural ...
Chan Muyhong
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/rubber-decline-stokes-worry
Hun Sen pushes rice export to Brunei
Prime Minister Hun Sen said that he would like to see the stronger economic and trade cooperation between Cambodia and Brunei. And Cambodia want to increase the rice export to Brunei. ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=11&token=OGVjODA2M2I1MDM
Brands ‘failing their workers’
European mega-brands are not doing enough to ensure that the Cambodian workers who make their products receive a basic living wage, according to a report released today. Tailored Wages, an analysis of 50 of Europe’s biggest clothing brands, found that many major high-street chains are doing ...
Alice Cuddy
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/brands-%E2%80%98failing-their-workers%E2%80%99
Aeon MFI to expand in Cambodia
Aeon Microfinance (Cambodia) plans to expand its branches in Cambodia this year and also diversify its products from the current base after two years of operating in the Kingdom, officials with the company say. Until now, the microfinance institution (MFI) – which is part of the ...
Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/aeon-mfi-expand-cambodia
Official says Cambodia not ready for ASEAN Free Trade
Cambodia is not prepared to join Asean’s single regional market and production base next year, a Labor Ministry official said Friday. Next year, the 10 nations of Asean are to create the Asean Economic Community (AEC). Within this community, labor is to flow freely and import ...
Denise Hruby
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/official-says-cambodia-not-ready-for-asean-free-trade-55203/
In effeminate tones, Hun Sen lampoons opposition politicians
Prime Minister Hun Sen used the opening ceremony of a dam in Pursat province Thursday to act out a scene of biting political satire by pouring scorn on promises from the opposition CNRP to simultaneously reduce food prices in markets, while increasing prices paid to ...
Khuon Narim
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/in-effeminate-tones-hun-sen-lampoons-opposition-politicians-55131/
Sub-Decree aims to better regulate pharmacies
Prime Minister Hun Sen has signed a sub-decree to better regulate pharmacies, a business fraught with fake drugs and fake diplomas. The new sub-decree of the Pharmacists’ Code of Ethics contains 71 articles. They ban distribution of fake drugs and the use of titles not ...
Kuch Naren
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/sub-decree-aims-to-better-regulate-pharmacies-55138/
U.S. holds intellectual property rights workshop for Cambodian, Lao officials
The United States government on Tuesday organized an intellectual property rights (IPR) enforcement workshop for some 50 Cambodian and Lao law enforcement officials. ...
Xinhuanet News Staff
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2014-03/25/c_133212172.htm
AEC lures Thai rice millers to invest in Cambodia
Thai rice millers are lining up to build mills in Cambodia to cash in on imminent regional economic integration, with experts warning Cambodian rice is likely to flood Thailand. An industry source said several millers from Thailand’s central and northeastern regions are preparing to set up ...
Bangkok Post News Staff
http://www.bangkokpost.com/business/news/401535/aec-lures-thai-rice-millers-to-invest-in-cambodia
Fish imports from Cambodia banned by EU
The European Commission (E.C.) will today ban all fish imports from Cambodia, carrying through on its threat made in November to punish the country for failing to show genuine commitment to tackling the global problem of illegal fishing, according to a memo released Friday. The ban, ...
Zsombor Peter and Simon Henderson
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/fish-imports-from-cambodia-banned-by-eu-54770/