The Phnom Penh Post

Kampot pepper yields are expected to increase significantly in the first harvest since gaining Geographic Indicator status in April 2010, as increased demand from exporters drives up prices. Output this season is expected to surge by 17 per cent, from 23 tonnes in the last harvest ...

The recent growth of foreign direct investment (FDI) into the Kingdom will be a good opportunity to develop small- and medium- sized businesses, an official said yesterday. According to Hang Chuon Naron, deputy director of the National Economic Supreme Council and secretary of state at the ...

Anti-competitive behaviour in Cambodia’s domestic airline industry is limiting its growth, with the relevant authorities “reluctant” to open the domestic market up to competition, an aviation report found. Monopolising this market currently is the country’s flagship carrier, Cambodia Angkor Air, according to a Centre for Aviation ...

Officials of the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia (GMAC) are concerned that recent strikes could delay delivery to customers, and factories are looking for solutions to meet buyers’ demands. About 10,000 workers in seven or eight garment factories have gone on strike recently demanding higher wages ...

More than 8,000 hectares of land was cut from economic and forest land concessions owned by some of the country’s biggest tycoons and awarded to villagers last month, according to documents from the Council of Ministers. Four sub-decrees signed by Prime Minister Hun Sen order that ...

Cambodian and Thai officials are having trouble resolving tensions over border checkpoints in Oddar Meanchey, Cambodian authorities said yesterday. Following a verbal request from Thai border police that their Cambodian counterparts rejected last week, Thai officers submitted a letter last Friday asking Cambodian authorities to move ...

Laos yesterday defended its decision to begin building the Xayaburi dam amid criticism from Cambodia on a lively final day of the Mekong River Commission’s annual council meeting in Luang Prabang, Laos. According to separate sources who attended, Cambodia spoke out against Laos for “misinterpreting” the ...

Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday sentenced 28 people – including several government officials – to between two and five years in jail on charges of clearing state-protected flooded mangrove forest in Kampong Thom province in July of 2012. Presiding Judge Keo Mony said that Cheath Sivutha, ...

One hot day in June, 2009, Ven Samin, a member of the ethnic Suoy minority in Kampong Speu province, grabbed her digital camera and headed out of the house. The 44-year-old arrived at a collection of damaged rice paddies in Oral district and began taking photos. ...

Mesco Gold, an associated company of India-based Mesco Steel, will sign an agreement with Angkor Gold to mine the Phum Syrang prospect on one of its economic land concessions in Ratanakkiri province. “We’ve been exploring the area since 2006. We’ve been drilling holes and there’s ...

Two protesters and three factory officials were injured in a clash at a garment factory in Kampong Speu province yesterday as a report revealed that more than 60 unionists and workers were injured in such incidents in 2012. Vann Bun, a Free Trade Union activist, said ...

Representatives of a dozen large Japanese companies arrived in Phnom Penh on Tuesday looking for business opportunities in the kingdom. Hidetoshi Nishimura, executive director of the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia, led the delegation, whose members represent firms in industries such as technology, ...

Cambodia’s largest bank is ready to launch its first micro-finance institution (MFI) in Myanmar, but one final barrier remains: an operating licence from Myanmar’s government. Acleda Bank’s chief executive, In Channy, expects the licence to be granted by the end of this month. Once that is done, ...

Office rental growth in Phnom Penh increased 10 to 15 per cent by the end of 2012, said an official of the Cambodian Valuers and Estate Agents Association, as the number of local and international companies have risen significantly. Chrek Soknim, deputy director of VTrust property ...

About 80 families travelling to Phnom Penh from Kampong Chhnang province for a land dispute-related protest yesterday were blocked on their way to the capital and told to resolve the matter locally. The villagers are locked in an unusual land feud with an agricultural firm, ...

Noise from a loudspeaker yesterday cut through the usual peace on street 282 in Phnom Penh’s Beoung Keng Kang 1 neighbourhood, as five former massage workers at upscale spa Aziadee protested the sudden termination of their contracts. Waving posters in front of the shop ...

Cargo shipments through Sihanoukville’s Deep Sea Port increased more than seven per cent year-on-year in 2012. Port officials say this growth is a result of Cambodia’s economic performance and an improving global economy. “It is a fast rate of growth compared with previous years. We had ...

As Cambodia’s economy continues to grow, advertising in the country has developed to keep pace. But the industry still faces challenges, insiders say. According to Media Adex data by Indochina Research, which monitors advertising spending for TV and print (but not radio) $105.4 million was ...

On the heels of a year in which the deaths of endangered Irrawaddy dolphins rose – as much as 100 per cent by some estimates – the government is paving the way for greater enforcement of conservation measures along a protected stretch of the Mekong. Touch ...

It will not be enough for Apple to simply offer a cheaper iPhone for the company to gain share in the competitive Cambodian smartphone market, according to industry insiders. They say Apple’s operating system, iOS, may also restrict their potential growth. Bloomberg last week reported that Apple ...

More than 2,000 workers demonstrated in front of Phnom Penh’s Gladpeer Garment Factory yesterday, demanding a higher minimum wage and several other concessions. The workers decided to strike after the Por Sen Chey district factory did not respond to repeated requests to raise their monthly minimum ...

The tourism sector has complained about the attempted extortion and bribery by officials at the international border checkpoints that still upset tourists coming into Cambodia. The issue was raised yesterday during a meeting of the Interministerial Committee for Facilitating the Travel and Transport of Tourists and ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen lashed out at unnamed critics yesterday, saying there was no corruption in large-scale development projects backed by foreign aid. “[For example] as for the Neak Leung bridge or Kizuna bridge Japan runs its bids in Tokyo. Therefore, only Japanese companies have the ...

Rulling party Senator Ly Yong Phat’s Phnom Penh Sugar Company announced yesterday that it had amended its hiring policy to forbid contractors from employing children, while at the same time, opposition parliamentarian Mu Sochua made public her plans to visit the company to investigate its ...