The Phnom Penh Post
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 ...
R’kiri minorities say land’s sale improper
Fifty Tampuon ethnic minority families protested yesterday in front of the Soeung Commune Hall in Bakeo district against their commune chief, who they allege sold land that belonged to the Ratanakkiri community. In a complaint filed to rights group Adhoc yesterday, the families claim that commune ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013031962012/National/r-kiri-minorities-say-land-s-sale-improper.html
Illegal checkpoints, logging tools netted
Activists in Kratie province’s Snuol district seized seven chainsaws over the weekend and collected evidence that four police checkpoints were used to solicit bribes from illegal loggers, representatives of the network said yesterday. After scouring thousands of hectares of protected forest from Friday through yesterday, the ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013031962013/National/illegal-checkpoints-logging-tools-netted.html
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
Kingdom’s small auto industry likely to expand as AEC looms
The Cambodian automotive industry will expand after the Kingdom’s integration into the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Economic Community (AEC) in 2015, thanks to the free flow of goods within the bloc and Cambodia’s competitive advantage as a low-cost manufacturer, according to Cambodian Commerce ...
‘Crocodile’ gran to file $100 million lawsuit
Prominent businesswoman Chhin Sokountheary yesterday announced her intention to sue Phnom Penh Governor Kep Chuktema for falsifying documents saying she illegally occupied state land in Phnom Penh’s Sen Sok district in a bid to steal the land and develop a sports stadium on it. Sokountheary, 57 ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013031861997/National/crocodile-gran-to-file-100-million-lawsuit.html
Agreement reached on Thai trade
After years of discussion, the Cambodian and Thai governments on Tuesday agreed at the Ayeyawady-Chao Phraya-Mekong Economic Co-operation Strategy (ACMECS) summit in Laos to establish a Cambodian-Thai Business Council in a bid to enhance trade and investment between the ASEAN neighbours after a decline in ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013031561964/Business/agreement-reached-on-thai-trade.html
Forest activists answer complaint in court
Eight members of the Prey Lang forest community network, summonsed to the Kampong Thom provincial court yesterday to answer a 2011 complaint, rejected its accusation that they had caused intentional damage by uprooting cassava plants belonging to Ol Ratha and maintained they had acted only ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013031561954/National/forest-activists-answer-complaint-in-court.html
Start-ups rely too much on self-funding
Cambodians tend to rely too heavily on self-funding or loans when starting businesses, experts say. In a bid to change that, an essay competition about business plans has been launched to give a platform for the winner to form business partnerships with those with capital. The ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013031561965/Business/start-ups-rely-too-much-on-self-funding.html
Rosewood trade must stop: PM
Prime Minister Hun Sen has called on Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar and Laos to help curb the illegal trade in rosewood after Cambodia’s bloodiest year yet for logging-related border shootings. Speaking to reporters at Phnom Penh International Airport after the premier returned from a two-day meeting ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013031461944/National/rosewood-trade-must-stop-pm.html
Sihanoukville land prices largely flat
Land prices in Preah Siahnouk province have risen slightly, by 5 to 10 per cent in early 2013, despite increasing numbers of tourists who have visited Cambodia and travelled to the province. Cheng Kheng, director of the CPL real estate company and president of Cambodian Valuers ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013031461949/Real-Estate/sihanoukville-land-prices-largely-flat.html
Camko City’s potential seen
Property experts say the Camko City project has a great deal of potential, after visiting and studying the satellite city last week. Kim Heang, general manager of Khmer Real Estate Co, said that he is very interested in Camko City because he has seen that it ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013031461948/Real-Estate/camko-city-s-potential-seen.html
Rice miller plans to export 10,000 tonnes
State-owned rice miller Green Trade plans to export about 10,000 tonnes of milled rice to Libya this year, an insider has revealed. Thon Virak, director of state-owned rice exporter Green Trade, told the Post yesterday that he had signed an export deal with a private company ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013031461931/Business/rice-miller-plans-to-export-10-000-tonnes.html
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
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
More trade finance needed
A lack of trade financing – the loans and guarantees needed to support import and export transactions – for international deals within developing Asian countries such as Cambodia is restricting opportunities for growth, a survey by the Asia Development Bank (ADB) has found. Of 106 banks ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013031361906/Business/more-trade-finance-needed.html
Rubber price falls from 2012
Thanks to seasonal demand, the price of rubber has increased from 2012’s year-end prices. But it was still slightly lower than at this time last year, a rubber-plantation owner said yesterday. Mak Kimhong, president of the Cambodia Rubber Association and owner of the Chhop Rubber Plantation ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013031361907/Business/rubber-price-falls-from-2012.html
Villagers pin big hopes on little dam
In the past four years, families in Anlong Chrey village, in Kampong Speu provinces’s Thpong district, have watched a small multipurpose dam being built at their back doors. For village chief Soung Pao, 59, who gave up two hectares for the dam – one of ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013031361911/National/villagers-pin-big-hopes-on-little-dam.html
Round 2 at Phnom Penh's Borei Keila district
Four families who were violently evicted from Borei Keila in January last year built shelters yesterday in the rubbish where their houses once stood, claiming the land still belonged to them. The evictees erected small frames on the land, in the capital’s Prampi Makara district, irritating ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013031361918/National/round-2-at-borei-keila.html
Wage demands: Workers hit streets in bid for pay rise
More than a thousand garment workers went on strike yesterday morning to demand a minimum wage increase and better working conditions, following the failure of minimum wage negotiations between unions and employers on Monday. Some 600 workers in Kandal province yesterday protested in front of ...
Waterways may reduce export costs
Cambodia’s waterways are significantly under-used for the transport of commodities such as rice, and enhanced infrastructure and a review of government fees is needed at the Kingdom’s ports to make exports more competitive, industry experts say. According to figures from the Alliance of Rice Producers and ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013031261877/Business/waterways-may-reduce-export-costs.html