News
White sugar production hits 102,000 tonnes a year
The Kingdom is now capable of domestically producing up to 102,000 tonnes of white sugar per year from sugarcane grown at plantations in its southwestern provinces (Kampong Speu, Koh Kong), according to statistics released by Phnom Penh Sugar Co Ltd (PPSC) last week. ...
Sorn Sarath
https://www.khmertimeskh.com/50789216/white-sugar-production-hits-102000-tonnes-a-year/
Kampong Speu sugar company villagers protest at Land Management Ministry
Nearly 700 people from different communities in Kampong Speu province protested in front of the Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction on Thursday, seeking a solution to their long-running land dispute with three sugar companies. ...
ANZ mulling payout to sugar project victims
The victims of Ly Yong Phat’s Phnom Penh Sugar Company development project in Kampong Speu province’s Oral district said they are “happy” to hear that ANZ Bank had declared to the Australian Parliamentary Committee that it would consider compensating those affected by the project. ...
Khouth Sophak Chakrya
https://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/anz-mulling-payout-sugar-project-victims
Villagers register in land dispute
The Kampong Speu provincial authority said on Wednesday that its task force has completed registering thousands of families in Oral district who have been locked in a long-running land dispute with a sugar plantation owned by a well-connected tycoon. ...
Kong Meta
https://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/villagers-register-land-dispute
Land rights NGO given green light to resume its operations
The Interior Ministry has decided to allow land rights NGO Equitable Cambodia to operate in Cambodia after suspending its activities in September. The announcement was made after a meeting between Interior Minister Sar Kheng and EU ambassador George Edgar on Friday. ...
Mom Sophon
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/50110492/land-rights-ngo-given-green-light-resume-operations/
Families regain land as claims given approval
More than 200 families who have been locked in land disputes with sugar firms will have at least some of their land returned to them after the Ministry of Land Management approved their claims yesterday, though hundreds more families are still waiting for resolution. ...
Soth Koemsoeun
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/families-regain-land-claims-given-approval
Families not included in land dispute resolution
Representatives for 15 families involved in a long-standing land dispute in Koh Kong province complained that authorities failed to find a resolution for them, despite providing compensation for 170 other families in the same area. ...
Soth Koemsoeun
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/families-not-included-land-dispute-resolution
Villagers suspect protesters were sent by sugar company
Following protests against land rights NGO Equitable Cambodia (EC) on Friday, several villagers in affected communities in Kampong Speu’s Oral district voiced concern yesterday that the protests might have been staged by the company that the communities stand in conflict with. ...
Kong Meta
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/villagers-suspect-protesters-were-sent-sugar-company
Evictees, sugar company reach deal at last
Representatives of evicted families and a sugarcane plantation owned by a prominent CPP senator announced an agreement on Thursday that provides compensation ranging from $500 to $5,000 to eligible villagers after a five-year battle over land. ...
Sek Odom
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/evictees-sugar-company-reach-deal-last-116579/
Complaint against sugar company withdrawn
More than 150 residents from Kampong Speu’s Oral district gathered at the Equitable Cambodia (EC) headquarters and the National Assembly on Friday to withdraw their complaints over land against the Phnom Penh Sugar Company, which is owned by magnate Ly Yong Phat. ...
Ven Rathavong
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/25516/complaint-against-sugar-company-withdrawn/
Families in land dispute with sugar firm reach $500 deal
More than 300 families in Kompong Speu province this week signed a deal with Senator Ly Yong Phat’s Phnom Penh Sugar Company aimed at ending their long-running land dispute, though several of the families have yet to agree on compensation. ...
Aun Pheap
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/families-in-land-dispute-with-sugar-firm-reach-500-deal-112792/
Evictees lobby bank for payment
More than 200 villagers from Kampong Speu protested in front of ANZ Royal Bank’s headquarters in Phnom Penh yesterday, demanding the bank pay them compensation. ...
Pech Sotheary
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/evictees-lobby-bank-payment
Hun Sen’s sister resigns in protest
Prime Minister Hun Sen’s sister Hun Sinath has resigned from her job as a secretary of state over what she said was her colleagues’ fear of investigating a land dispute between villagers in Kampong Speu province and tycoon Ly Yong Phat. Sinath revealed her resignation ...
May Titthara
http://phnompenhpost.com/national/hun-sen%E2%80%99s-sister-resigns
ANZ says no to evicted Cambodian farmers
ANZ has ruled out helping hundreds of poor Cambodian families forcibly evicted from their land to make way for sugar-cane plantations that involved child labour and led to food shortages. Fairfax Media this year revealed confidential audits that disclosed that ANZ’s Cambodian subsidiary, ANZ Royal Bank, ...
Richard Baker and Nick McKenzie
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/anz-says-no-to-evicted-cambodian-farmers-20140819-105sib.html
ANZ refuses to help evictees of senator’s sugarcane farm
About 100 villagers who lost land to a sugarcane plantation, which was until recently financed by ANZ Royal Bank, traveled to Phnom Penh to protest in front of the bank’s headquarters Thursday, but failed to convince the bank to help them. Several hundred families in Kompong ...
Aun Pheap and Zsombor Peter
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/anz-refuses-to-help-evictees-of-senators-sugarcane-farm-66579/
Minister lauds controversial sugar industry
Environment Minister Say Sam Al on Wednesday lauded the country’s controversial sugar industry and the jobs it has created, saying that companies operating in the sector need to be defended against the widespread criticism they have been receiving. Rights groups and the opposition CNRP have undertaken ...
Khuon Narim and Lauren Crothers
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/minister-lauds-controversial-sugar-industry-64810/
ANZ needs to step up its risk assessment: Oxfam
ANZ’s financing of ruling party senator Ly Yong Phat’s controversial sugar plantation has come under fire once again, this time in an investigation by NGO Oxfam into Australia’s big four banks and their links to rights abuses in developing countries. In a report titled “Banking on ...
Daniel de Carteret
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/anz-needs-step-its-risk-assessment-oxfam
For Royal Group, sale not desired
Executives from Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited (ANZ) and local partner Royal Group of Companies (RGC) both went into damage control yesterday after comments by ANZ chief executive officer Mike Smith suggesting the joint banking venture between the two was on the rocks. Royal ...
Daniel de Carteret
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/royal-group-sale-not-desired
A refined approach?
Hundreds of trucks hauling sugarcane queue up along the dusty roads that cut a path through a plantation in Kampong Speu province. Their destination: Cambodia’s most advanced sugar refinery. Its owners say the landmark project, run by the Phnom Penh Sugar Company and its president, ruling ...
Daniel de Carteret
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/refined-approach
Coca-Cola auditors visit sugar suppliers
Third-party auditors hired by The Coca-Cola Company are conducting an audit of Cambodian sugar suppliers, NGO and community representatives said yesterday. “Coke has commissioned them to conduct an assessment on their suppliers. They will talk to all parties, the community, NGOs and the company,” said Eang ...
Kevin Ponniah and May Titthara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/coca-cola-auditors-visit-sugar-suppliers