News
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 ...
Group Lease eyes Laos, Vietnam markets
Group Lease Plc (GL), the SET-listed motorcycle leasing firm, is planning to expand into Laos and Vietnam next year after a successful move into Cambodia last year. Mitsuji Konoshita, the chairman and chief executive, said both Laos and Vietnam are promising markets, while the company ...
http://www.bangkokpost.com/business/financialadvice/340373/group-lease-eyes-laos-vietnam-markets
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
Sweet Prospects
The sugar palm is a national symbol for Cambodia. Harvested by the country’s poor for centuries, no part of the palm tree goes to waste in a process that fashions the tree into a range of products. The durable and strong leaves are weaved into ...
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
Britain to support Cambodia in fight against money laundering, terrorism financing
Britain embassy to Cambodia is partnering with Cambodian government ministries and departments to provide a training course on international best practices in the field of anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism, according to the embassy’s press release on Friday. The training will be ...
Cambodia factory monitoring “needs urgent reform”
The long-running Better Factories Cambodia (BFC) monitoring programme is in urgent need of reform, according to a new report, which suggests the country’s reputation as a standard-bearer for apparel workers’ rights is “wearing thin”. The report, “Monitoring in the Dark – an evaluation of the International Labour ...
http://www.just-style.com/analysis/cambodia-factory-monitoring-needs-urgent-reform_id117121.aspx
Direct flights set for all ASEAN this year
CAMBODIA will have direct flights to all ASEAN member states this year in order to promote stronger growth of the tourism sector in the Kingdom, according to the Ministry of Tourism. Minister of Tourism Thong Khon said Cambodia will become fully connected to the ASEAN region ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013022861655/Business/direct-flights-set-for-all-asean-this-year.html
ILO Respond to Scathing Stanford Report on Factory Monitoring
The International Labour Organisation (ILO) Better Factories Program (BFC) has responded to a scathing report released last week by Stanford University, which said the ILO program was ineffectual as it had not helped secure Cambodian workers a significant wage increase since the program started over ...
Fracking a problem for SE Asia
Impoverished countries hoping to strike it rich by developing their limited oil and gas reserves are being urged to move quickly or risk having their expectations clipped by fracking, which is depressing market prices while adding life to fields once thought exhausted. The ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013022561573/Business/fracking-a-problem-for-se-asia.html
Better Factories Cambodia Slammed by Stanford Researchers
The International Labor Organization’s (ILO) Better Factories Cambodia program (BFC) must employ more transparency in their monitoring of Cambodia’s factories in order to effectively bring change to the country’s working and wage conditions, a report launched yesterday says. According to “Monitoring in the Dark” a ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/better-factories-cambodia-slammed-by-stanford-researchers-11011/
Cambodia Sees Massive Foreign Investment Growth in 2012
Investment in Cambodia from overseas surged by at least 44 percent last year, according to an estimate from the central bank, despite figures suggesting a reduction in the overall flow of foreign currency into Southeast Asian economies. Nguon Sokha, director-general of the National Bank of Cambodia, ...
Cambodia forecasts 4 mln foreign tourists in 2013
Cambodia is predicted to greet 4 million foreign visitors this year, an expected 12 percent rise year-on-year, Tourism Minister Thong Khon said Monday. “Last year, we received 3.58 million foreign tourists, up 24 percent year-on-year, and generated total revenue of about 2.2 billion U.S. dollars,” he ...
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/travel/2013-02/18/c_132176370.htm
Cigarette smuggling from Cambodia to Vietnam abounds
A pair of cigarette brands distributed by two of the Kingdom’s most prominent businessmen are being smuggled from Cambodia to Vietnam at an estimated rate of more than 300 million packs a year, contributing to tobacco manufacturer losses of nearly $200 million annually, according to ...
Major Cineplex comes to Cambodia
Thai-based movie theatre company Major Cineplex said it will build “a high-end lifestyle and entertainment complex” at the Aeon mall in Phnom Penh, hoping to capture Cambodia’s youth market in what it believes is a stable business environment for its entertainment products. While it sees prospects in ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013021461365/Business/major-cineplex-comes-to-cambodia.html
Naga Corp Reports 23 Percent Profit Growth
NagaCorp Ltd., the Hong Kong-listed company that runs Phnom Penh’s only licensed casino, saw its profits grow by 23 percent in 2012, the firm said in an announcement. In its financial results for the year, released Wednesday to the Hong Kong stock exchange, the company that ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/nagacorp-reports-23-percent-profit-growth-9646/
Investors from Korea relocate to Cambodia
Korean investors are relocating labour-intensive businesses to countries such as Cambodia after Indonesia raised its minimum wage. A number of Korean investors had closed their Indonesian factories and relocated to other countries in the region because their requests for minimum-wage exemption had been refused, The Jakarta ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013020761220/Business/investors-from-korea-relocate-to-cambodia.html
Cambodia boosts attraction of foreign visitors in 2013
Cambodian Tourism Minister H.E. Dr. Thong Khon said: Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar had gained high growth of tourist arrival in 2012 for Asean region. “Cambodia is continuing its work including promotion to the outside world to attract tourists to see the country.” he said this week. ...
Denso To Turn Out Motorcycle Parts In Cambodia
Denso Corp. (6902) will begin making motorcycle parts in Cambodia in July, responding to growing production of vehicles in Southeast Asia. The autoparts manufacturer will establish a production subsidiary in Cambodia in April. Plans are to lease a plant in the Phnom Penh Special Economic Zone ...
ASEAN ministers vow to deepen tourism cooperation
Representatives of the ten ASEAN nations met on Sunday in Laos’ capital of Vientiane to launch the ASEAN Tourism Forum (ATF), where they pledged to expand tourism cooperation and discussed creating a pan-ASEAN tourist visa. The ATF, which was first held in 1981, is designed to ...
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2013-01/20/c_132115298.htm
Australian Investor Jailed After Business Dispute
An Australian businessman who once fronted a telecommunications firm in Cambodia has been sent to Prey Sar prison on fraud charges in a case one of his associates said was triggered by a disgruntled partner in a failed business venture. Frank May, 63, the former chief ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/australian-investor-jailed-after-business-dispute-7759/
Japanese firms seek business options in Cambodia
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, ...
Britain life insurer Prudential officially launches operations in Cambodia
The U.K.-based life insurer, Prudential Plc, on Wednesday announced the commencement of its life insurance operations in Cambodia, according to the firm’s press release. Alongside the launch of its business operations, Prudential Cambodia and Acleda Bank, the largest commercial bank in Cambodia, also announced the establishment ...
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/business/2013-01/09/c_132091413.htm
Cambodia’s low wages lure manufacturers away from China, other countries
Inside a gleaming white-and-blue garment factory in Cambodia stand rows of second-hand Singers — weathered sewing machines transported from a plant in China that closed last year. The Hong Kong-headquartered Top Form, which has 700 workers at the plant, is one of many businesses that have ...