The Phnom Penh Post
Cassava exports to China up, but production lags
Chinese-owned Avic International plans to export 8,000 tonnes of dried cassava from Cambodia to the Chinese market this year. According to Chan Saron, minister of agriculture, forestry and fisheries, there are currently 31 companies listed as exporting cassava to China from Cambodia, but only 17 ...
Trade with Vietnam grows
Bilateral trade between Cambodia and neighbouring Vietnam increased by more than 10 per cent last year on the previous year, according to data from the Vietnam Trade Office in Cambodia. The data showed that total trade volume was $3.3 billion between January and the end of ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013022761641/Business/trade-with-vietnam-grows.html
More workers rally at ongoing Naga strike
bout 100 chefs and kitchen staff walked off the job at the capital’s NagaWorld casino yesterday as a workers’ strike at the luxury entertainment venue entered its fifth day. More than 1,000 protesters — the majority of the casino’s workers — rallied outside the front entrance ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013022761629/National/more-workers-rally-at-ongoing-naga-strike.html
Co-op law will bolster agriculture sector: PM
WITH the passing of a law on farmers’ co-operatives, the government hopes to streng-then the country’s growing agricultural sector, Prime Minister Hun Sen said in a speech at the National Institute of Education yesterday. “In time, I believe that economic growth will be tremendous in rural ...
Moto imports jump 55 per cent
IMPORTS of motor scooters reached 264,085 units, with a total value of $139 million in the first 11 months of last year – a 55 per cent jump from 170,380 units worth $86.5 million in the corresponding period of 2011, according to data from the ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013022761643/Business/moto-imports-jump-55-per-cent.html
No plans for Islamic banking services yet
WHILE investments from the Middle East into Cambodia are expected to increase over the next few years, the central bank here currently has no plans to launch Islamic banking services. Recent events like Qatar Airway’s Doha-Phnom Penh flights, which launched earlier this month, have been expected ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013022761645/Business/no-plans-for-islamic-banking-services-yet.html
KTH mall to be officially inaugurated
The KTH Premium Power Mall, opposite the Chinese Embassy in Phnom Penh, will be officially inaugurated on March 1 by K Thong Huot Telecom Co (KTH). The 1,200-square-metre mall will focus on international brands of electronic products. A mall representative told the Post the business would cater ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013022661601/Business/kth-mall-to-be-officially-inaugurated.html
Charcoal prices rise in urban areas
Deforestation and Cambodia’s strong economic growth have resulted in an increase in the price of charcoal, an energy source the poor are dependent on, charcoal vendors say. The price of charcoal in Phnom Penh had increased at least 200 riel ($0.05) a kilogram compared to 2012, charcoal ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013022661597/Business/charcoal-prices-rise-in-urban-areas.html
Villagers may get land titles
Representatives of 171 Pursat families who claim to have been unfairly left out of the government’s land-titling process said they have reached a tentative agreement with the minister of Industry, Mines and Energy to continue farming on the Bakan district land they have occupied for ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013022661603/National/villagers-may-get-land-titles.html
Middle class boosts local Samsung sales
Cambodia’s encouraging economic climate had paved the way for the K-four Electronic company to launch Samsung’s latest refrigerator in this country, company representatives said. Kith Bunnarong, of K-four Electronic, said the comp-any’s sales in this country had increased since 2010, when it began working with Thai ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013022661596/Business/middle-class-boosts-local-samsung-sales.html
Qatar plans bank in Cambodia to enhance trade
Qatar’s ambassador to Cambodia says his country wants to open a bank here in an effort to enhance, and attract more, trade and investment from Middle East countries to the Kingdom. Bloomberg reported yesterday that Arqaam Capital, a Dubai-based investment bank, had said it was ...
Local MFIs’ high-tech investment
The first time Leang Horng, a resident of Kandal province’s Saang district, made use of a micro-finance institution, a loan was the only service he needed. At that time, Horng had no idea about deposits or money transfers. But things have changed in the past few ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013022661599/Business/local-mfis-high-tech-investment.html
PM Hun Sen ushers in new dam
Prime Minister Hun Sen on Saturday inaugurated the third in a string of six Chinese-funded hydropower dam projects, offering lavish praise for the superpower as he officially opened the $47 million Kirirom 3 dam in Koh Kong. “I am really pleased for the new ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013022561590/National/pm-hun-sen-ushers-in-new-dam.html
Unequal treatment at Cambodian factories
The ongoing story of garment workers left jobless by company closures in late December is fast becoming A Tale of Two Factories: one group of workers has everything before it, the other has nothing. It’s this widening gulf between workers at Yung Wah Industrial and Kingsland ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013022561588/National/unequal-treatment-at-factories.html
Manufacturing to diversify
While Cambodia seeks to diversify its manufacturing sector and encourage higher-value-added activities, experts say it must be supported by the right mix of government policies. The Asia Development Bank (ADB) says that the sharp increase of foreign direct investment (FDI) from $900 million in 2011 to ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013022561577/Business/manufacturing-to-diversify.html
PM’s Logging Decree ‘Too Late’
Activists are welcoming Prime Minister Hun Sen’s public vow to prevent logging and rosewood trafficking, but they also say it’s too little too late to have any serious impact on protecting Cambodia’s already decimated forests. In a speech on Friday at the Ministry of Interior, Hun ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013022561589/National/pm-s-logging-decree-too-late.html
Singapore investment up
Total fixed assets of Singaporean investment in Cambodia last year reached $82.7 million, a 500 per cent increase from $13.8 million in 2011, data from the Council for the Development of Cambodia (CDC) show. Singaporean entrepreneurs who have already entered the Cambodian market said they expect ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013022561574/Business/singapore-investment-up.html
Villagers summonsed in illegal logging case
Some 300 villagers from the Andong Trabaek community in Svay Rieng province’s Romeas Hek district will accompany two representatives who have been summonsed to the provincial court Tuesday to clarify allegations of illegal logging that villagers say were fabricated by Forestry Administration officials in order ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013022561580/National/community-reps-summonsed.html
Cambodian rice popular across Asia
Cambodian milled rice is becoming more popular throughout Asia, particularly in Malaysia, which is the number one importer of milled rice from the Kingdom. According to data from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Malaysia imported over 7,000 tonnes of a total 25,700 tonnes exported ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013022561575/Business/cambodian-rice-popular-across-asia.html
Million-dollar rosewood bust
Five men allegedly caught with 10 cubic meters of illegal rosewood worth more than $1 million on Wednesday were being questioned in Stung Treng provincial court yesterday, officials said. Chroeung Khmao, the provincial prosecutor, said the men – four Chinese citizens and one Cambodian – were ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013022261563/National/million-dollar-rosewood-bust.html
Infrastructure spending rises
Between 2008 and 2012, Cambodia’s spending on public infrastructure amounted to about US$2.5 billion — a sum an opposition politician says is too low and is ineffectively put to use. In his opening remarks at the seventh Cambodia Outlook Conference, Prime Minister Hun Sen said public ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013022261558/Business/infrastructure-spending-rises.html
Expat financial service launched
An offshore financial services provider aiming to cater to expatriates in Cambodia hopes to tap into a market that has had its share of fly-by-night operators. Tag Wealth International, a subsidiary of the Australia-based Tag Group, began operations last month, offering advice in areas such as ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013022261556/Business/expat-financial-service-launched.html
Rice shipments up 165 per cent
Exports of Cambodian milled rice rose sharply during the first four weeks of this year, and traders are optimistic about the demand in Asian markets, particularly China. Figures from the one-stop service office at the Council for the Development of Cambodia (CDC) show the Kingdom exported ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013022261557/Business/rice-shipments-up165-per-cent.html
PPWSA to announce its first dividend
Phnom Penh Water Supply Authority (PPWSA) yesterday announced plans to pay its first dividend to shareholders. Dividends from the stock will be given to investors next month in cash after the financial performance of the company is audited by an international firm. Up until now, the ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013022161528/Business/ppwsa-to-announce-its-first-dividend.html