News
Cambodia to return to former glory
Kuala Lumpur (The star /ANN) — A country once torn apart by war is emerging as a key investment destination for small and medium enterprises. It was once home to a great civilization. In the 12th century, the Khmer empire was South-East Asia’s largest. Angkor was ...
http://www.thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=13&token=NDRhOTI5NzA0Y2E
Japanese, Cambodia trade is up 19 per cent
Trade volume between Cambodia and Japan had grown 19 per cent in the first six months of 2013 compared with the same period last year, figures from the Japan External Trade Organisation show. Cambodian exports to Japan were up 31 per cent in the first six ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/japanese-cambodia-trade-19-cent
Asian garment industry to undergo further segmentation
The Asian garment manufacturing industry will undergo further segmentation in the next three to four years as competition becomes more intense, experts said. China, Thailand and Vietnam will mainly produce high-end clothing, while Bangladesh, Laos, Burma and Cambodia will mainly produce low-end clothing. Lu Qijian, ...
http://usa.chinadaily.com.cn/business/2013-07/15/content_16778408.htm
Real Wages in Garment Sector Fell Over 10 Years
Wages for Cambodian garment workers decreased by more than 20 percent in real terms between 2001 and 2011 despite the industry’s exponential increase in exports, which in 2012 were valued at more than $4 billion, according to a recent report by a U.S.-based workers advocacy ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/wages-in-garment-sector-fell-22-over-10-years-34788/
FAO sees slight decline in Cambodian rice harvest this year
Cambodia’s rice harvest is forecast to reach 9.1 million tonnes this year, down from an estimated 9.3 million tonnes last year but up from 8.8 million tonnes in 2011, the Food and Agricultural Organization said Thursday. The estimates were contained in the UN agency’s quarterly Crop ...
http://www.thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=11&token=MDBmNGIwNDFiZWY
Myanmar rice is back
While exports of Cambodian rice have been booming, analysts are predicting that new competition from Myanmar could eventually rain on the parade. Cambodia exported nearly 176,000 tonnes of rice in the first six months of the year, a 125 per cent increase from the same period ...
Garment Exports Booming Despite Concerns
Despite criticisms over safety, outbreaks of sometimes violent industrial action and a raise in the minimum wage that it was warned would scare off manufacturers, Cambodia’s garment sector is booming, according to government figures. A report on state newswire Agence Kampuchea Presse (AKP) on Friday said ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/garment-exports-booming-despite-concerns-34035/
Cambodia Falls Short as Garment-Industry Model
This small Southeast Asian country was supposed to become a model for the world apparel industry, with tough factory monitoring and strong worker protections. But a dozen years after the United Nations’ International Labour Organization launched a program to manage Cambodia’s booming garment trade—the first of ...
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324423904578521240151597504.html
Map connects factories and buyers
In light of ongoing disputes over working conditions in the garment sector, the Cambodian Centre for Human Rights (CCHR) released yesterday details on hundreds of factories it believes will offer greater transparency along the garment supply chain – from producers to buyers – and shine ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013070166578/Business/map-connects-factories-and-buyers.html
The Grain of Rice That Could Help Cambodia Grow
SAMRAONG TONG DISTRICT, Kompong Speu Province – Laughing, Ouch Samnang jumped back and forth over a skipping rope held by his classmates. The 13-year-old goes to school in a small village in Kompong Speu province, he has friends, five siblings and loving parents. Overall, he ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/the-grain-of-rice-that-could-help-cambodia-grow-32650/
Cambodia's garment exports up 22 pct in 5 months
Cambodia’s garment industry, the country’s biggest income earner, recorded 2.06 billion U.S. dollars in export value in the first five months of this year, up 22 percent on the same period last year, a Commerce Ministry’s report showed Tuesday. Garment export accounts for more than 80 ...
http://www.asean-china-center.org/english/2013-06/27/c_132492345.htm
Poorest nations win intellectual property waiver
The world’s poorest nations have won an eight-year extension of a waiver on intellectual property rules at a session of the World Trade Organisation’s TRIPS Council. A session of the 159-nation WTO’s TRIPS (trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights) Council has ruled the waiver for 34 ...
Corruption worse than in Bangladesh: NGO
In a country where corruption is as rife as it is in Cambodia, global brands must work with governments to ensure garment factories are safe and working conditions legal, international NGO Transparency International (TI) said yesterday. In Cambodia, where two workers were killed when a ceiling ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013061266221/National/corruption-worse-than-in-bangladesh-ngo.html
Wing Star Widow in Limbo
Government officials have suggested the widow of the man crushed to death last month at the Wing Star Shoes factory, a supplier to Asics, will still be denied compensation from the National Social Security Fund (NSSF), a labour rights worker said yesterday. American Center for International ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013060366021/National/wing-star-widow-in-limbo.html
Cambodia, U.S. sign emissions reduction agreement
Cambodia and the United States on Friday signed a Memorandum of Understanding on low emissions and climate resilient development in Cambodia, according to a press statement from the U.S. Embassy to Phnom Penh. The deal was inked between Cambodian Minister of Environment Mok Mareth and Rebecca ...
http://www.china.org.cn/environment/2013-05/31/content_28997411.htm
Cambodian police clash with thousands of garment workers, 23 hurt
At least 23 workers were hurt in Cambodia on Monday when police using stun batons moved in to end a protest over pay at a factory that makes clothing for U.S. sportswear company Nike , a worker and a trade union representative said. Police with riot ...
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/27/cambodia-garments-workers-idUSL3N0E829T20130527
Family Accepts $9000 over Collapse Death
The family of a worker who was killed when a ceiling collapsed at Kompong Spue province footwear factory lasts week has accepted 9,000 in compensation, and in return has agreed not file a complaint against the company, the deceased’s wife said yesterday. Rim Sarouen, 22, ...
H&M Says Garments Made in Cambodian Factory Without Approval
Hennes & Mauritz AB, Europe’s second-biggest clothing retailer, said some H&M garments were produced without its knowledge or approval at a factory in Cambodia where workers were injured in a partial building collapse this week. A supplier of the Stockholm-based company placed two minor orders with ...
After Factory Collapse, Questions Mount Over ILO Monitoring
Labor rights activists and a government official accused the International Labor Organization’s Better Factories Cambodia program of ineffectiveness in its monitoring of factory conditions following a deadly ceiling collapse on Thursday at a shoe factory in Kompong Speu province. Moeun Tola, labor program head of the ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/after-factory-collapse-questions-mount-over-ilo-monitoring-24860/
Cambodian factory deaths shine spotlight on conditions
The deaths of at least two Cambodian workers and injuries sustained by 10 colleagues at a shoe factory southwest of Phnom Penh once more shine a light on conditions in the global garment manufacturing industry. Thursday’s accident at the Wing Star Shoe factory in the Cambodian ...
http://www.dw.de/cambodian-factory-deaths-shine-spotlight-on-conditions/a-16819017
Bangladesh woes spare Kingdom
A recent string of disasters rocking Bangladesh’s garment industry has highlighted its factories’ shocking safety record, and stoked optimism that giant fashion brands will flock to move their orders to countries like Cambodia. But Cambodia’s garment industry has not experienced any major deluge of business so ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013051665643/Business/bangladesh-woes-spare-kingdom.html
Cambodia, Bangladesh ink visa exemption deal for diplomatic, official passport holders
Cambodia and Bangladesh on Friday signed a visa-free agreement for diplomatic and service passport holders in a bid to strengthen bilateral ties in politics, trade, investment and tourism, officials said. The deal was inked here between Long Visalo, secretary of state at Cambodian Ministry of Foreign ...
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2013-05/03/c_132357925.htm
Special Thai-Cambodian cassava-corn trade zone set to be established
Thailand and Cambodia are on a path towards the setting up of a special trade zone that will see the two neighbors actively trade cassava and corn. Commerce Minister Boonsong Teriyapirom revealed on Monday that the 4th Thailand-Cambodia Joint Trade Committee meeting, held last week, saw ...
http://thainews.prd.go.th/centerweb/newsen/NewsDetail?NT01_NewsID=WNFOR5604290010003
No Information on World Bank Bribery Allegations in Cambodia
More than a week after the World Bank blacklisted a Canadian construction firm over bribes allegedly paid in Cambodia and Bangladesh, it was still unclear Thursday whether the government, or the national anticorruption body, are investigating the allegations. SNC-Lavalin Inc. was banned from World Bank contracts ...