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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 ...

Cambodia's reputation as a standard-bearer for apparel workers' rights is wearing thin - and yet the country is a rising star when it comes to attracting foreign investment and increasing exports. There are many reasons to deter brands and retailers from sourcing clothing in Cambodia. The Kingdom ...

Cambodian garment exports are expected to grow in 2013 with the increasing foreign investments along with focus on new market including Japan and China, according to the Garment Manufactures Association of Cambodia (GMAC). In 2012, apparel exports of Cambodia grew nine percent to US$ 4.61 ...

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 ...

The third round of negotiation between Cambodia's garment and footwear manufacturers and representatives of trade unions on minimum wage increase ended without result on Monday. The talk between the employers represented by Nang Sothy, co- chair of the Government-Private Working Group on Industrial Relations, and Ken ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen said yesterday that the government has no role in setting the minimum wage, as Cambodia is a market driven economy, and shot down unnamed people who have been calling for the government to significantly raise the country’s floor wage of $61. “For ...

Speaking to hundreds of garment workers yesterday in Phnom Penh, Kem Sokha, deputy president of the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), appealed to those in attendance to vote for the newly formed opposition party, promising higher wages, social security and free access to schools and ...

Frequent power outages in Phnom Penh, a result of a shortage of supply and overuse by consumers, is harming the competitiveness of Cambodian products, industry insiders said yesterday. In addition to the challenges of expensive electricity prices, an ongoing issue for production costs, unreliable supply during ...

The Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia (GMAC) informed the government yesterday that their final offer in minimum wage negotiations with the country's unions is $75 per month, $25 less than the unions had wanted. The $75 dollar figure, however, includes a $5 state-mandated health bonus, paid ...

Cambodia, with over 400 garment and footwear factories, has become an Asian clothes manufacturing center, and hugely profitable for the factory owners ... They have rejected a demand by the Cambodian Confederation of Unions to double the minimum monthly wage of factory workers from $61. The ...

More than 5,000 workers from across seven factories in Svay Rieng province protested yesterday, demanding a doubling of the current minimum wage, a provincial labor official said yesterday. ... The country’s minimum wage sits at $61, and is supplemented by a $5 health benefit and a ...

Garment Manufacturers Association of Cambodia (GMAC) on Monday agreed to increase salaries for the workers in the kingdom’s garment and footwear industries, according to a press release after a closed door meeting. The meeting was attended by Minister of Social Affairs Ith Samheng, Minister of Labor ...

The exports of garments and textiles from Southeast Asian nation of Cambodia grew to US$ 4.61 billion, up nine percent over total textiles and garment exports worth US$ 4.24 billion made in 2011, according to The Phnom Penh Post report. However, the rise in garment ...

As the lure of Thailand grows increasingly attractive for cash-strapped and under-employed Cambodians, Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday made a public appeal for workers to stay in the country, simultaneously urging the Cambodian market to up its competitive edge. In a speech at the inauguration of ...

In a single factory that supplies some of the biggest international brands, faintings occurred every day for five years, a new investigation by the Cambodian Legal Education Centre has found. Until just weeks ago, when the management installed new fans, three to four garments workers were ...

A sharp increase in garment factory strikes this year has raised eyebrows among industry insiders, who say the disputes could lead to a decrease in year-on-year export growth. The Arbitration Council, which hears work-related disputes such as factory strikes, saw claims nearly double during the first ...

The Chairman of the Garment Manufacturers Association of Cambodia, Van Sou Ieng, said that even if nutrition is an important factor in productivity, it should not the sole responsibility of the factory owner. “The deduction that the nutrition will automatically improve productivity is not necessarily true. ...

Cambodia's garment sector yesterday looked more like a teacher to regional economies such as Myanmar than a student of China and other export juggernauts. With more than 500 garment and shoe factories – adding a new one every 10 days, according to the Garment Manufacturers Association ...

Buoyed by strong demand from the economies of Europe and North America, the total amount of garment, shoe and textile exports that left Cambodia last year was on target to surpass the $4 billion mark, dwarfing 2010's total of $2.88 billion, the Garment Manufacturers Association ...

As predicted by the International Monetary Fund and World Bank earlier this year, growth in Cambodia's garment sector has started to slow due to weakening demand from markets in the US and Europe. According to the latest figures released by the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia ...

Human rights groups are warning that Cambodia’s new Prison Law will create financial incentives for violations of human rights within the Kingdom’s prisons and tarnish the image of the country’s most lucrative export industry: footwear and garments. They point to Article 71 of the new law, ...

About 400,000 garment and footwear makers will get a US$5 a month raise starting in January, and the factories that employ them will receive a two-year tax holiday, Prime Minister Hun Sen said yesterday. The $5 raise, from $61 to $66 a month, is intended to ...

The first garment factory in Koh Kong province is slated to open in April of next year in what insiders say is a harbinger of manufacturing along the Thai border. Thai-owned KKN Apparel had signed a contract with the Koh Kong Special Economic Zone to launch ...

Minister of Commerce Cham Prasidh yesterday called on the US to allow duty-free entry for Cambodian exports, a benefit the Kingdom already enjoyed with the European Union. The introduction of preferential tax treatment from the US would result in the Kingdom’s share of that country’s ...