ACLEDA capitalises for growth
May 23rd, 2013, The Phnom Penh Post, Banking & Finance, Business & Commercial Development, Domestic Investment, Financial Services, News Source
ACLEDA Bank, the largest locally owned commercial bank in Cambodia, said it has raised its current registered capital by $72.5 million, to $185.6 million, for business expansion domestically and internationally. It is the tenth time the bank has done so. …
May Kunmakara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013052365788/Business/acleda-capitalises-for-growth.html
Rice exports to region rising
May 23rd, 2013, The Phnom Penh Post, Agriculture & Agri-business, Business & Commercial Development, Domestic Investment, Economics, Exports, News Source, Rice, Trade
Cambodian milled rice exports are gradually lessening their dependency on a single market by expanding their shipping destination in Asia, a sign insiders say is good news for the industry.
Kim Savuth, president of the Federation of Cambodian Rice Exporters, told the Post yesterday that milled rice exports to European countries, Cambodia’s traditional market, is still increasing, but its percentage share is gradually decreasing. He said the trend of exports to Asian market is on the rise. …
In the first four months of this year, Cambodia exports to Malaysia, Thailand and China, reached 40,500 tonnes, 34 per cent Cambodia’s total overseas exports, according to figures from the secretariat of the One Window Service for rice exports.
The data show that those three countries are among the top five importers that bring in rice from Cambodia, with France and Poland at numbers one and two. …
Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013052365791/Business/rice-exports-to-region-rising.html
Officials in ‘contract’ farms drive
May 22nd, 2013, The Phnom Penh Post, Agriculture & Agri-business, Banking & Finance, Borrowing, Business & Commercial Development, Domestic Investment, Farming, Financial Services, Foreign Aid, News Source, Technical Assistance
Officials are seeking expert firms to implement projects on so-called contract farming and the enhancement of the involvement of farmers’ organisations in paddy collecting and processing, officials said.
Contract farming is an agreement on agricultural production carried out between a farmer and buyers, which establishes conditions for the production and marketing of a farm product or products. …
Mao Thora, secretary of state for the Ministry of Commerce, said Agence Francaise de Developpement (AFD) provided €6 million ($7.7 million) for projects including contract farming and providing loans. …
Rann Reuy
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013052265766/Business/officials-in-contract-farms-drive.html
Solar panels see sunny times ahead
May 21st, 2013, The Phnom Penh Post, Banking & Finance, Borrowing, Business & Commercial Development, Domestic Investment, Economics, Electricity, Energy, Financial Services, News Source, Solar Power
Officials and business people say solar panels are gaining in popularity in rural areas, where the power grid does not reach.
Mao Sangat, director of Solar Energy Cambodia, told the Post yesterday that his company saw increases of installation of solar power systems for families whose children worked abroad and remitted money to their parents.
He said that so far, there were no huge projects to equip solar panel systems in public places such as schools or hospitals in rural areas supported by NGOs, but solar panels were selling well to families in three provinces – Kampong Cham, Prey Veng and Svay Rieng. …
Yiang Tal, chief of administration of Rural Electrification of Cambodia, said Electricity of Cambodia (EDC) provided $4 million for the Department of Rural Electrification Fund (REF) this year for providing loans to villagers and private electricity providers for implementing rural electricity development. …
He said that more than $1 million had gone to providing loans to private electricity providers to connect lines to rural homes, and all the connected families were required to pay back over two or three years without interest charges. …
Rann Reuy
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013052165730/Business/solar-panels-see-sunny-times-ahead.html
Kampot pepper yield down
May 20th, 2013, The Phnom Penh Post, Agriculture & Agri-business, Business & Commercial Development, Climate Change, Corn, Domestic Investment, Environment & Natural Resources, Environmental change, News Source
This year’s weather has proven too hot for the Kingdom’s famous Kampot pepper, as yields of the spice dropped for the first time since 2008.
Some 22 tonnes of pepper were harvested this year between January and May, short of the 27 tonnes predicted for this season, and a tonne lower than last year’s yield, said Nguon Lay, director of the Kampot Pepper Promotion Association (KPPA).
This is the first drop in output, he said, since pepper growers in the region formed the KPPA in October 2008, which today has a combined pepper farmland of 41 hectares and 102,500 trees. …
Rann Reuy
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013052065706/Business/kampot-pepper-yield-down.html
Ethnic villagers, firm battle over Ratanakkiri plot
May 20th, 2013, The Phnom Penh Post, Business & Commercial Development, Disputed Land, Domestic Investment, Economic Land Concessions, Land Tenure, News Source
A local official and four ethnic minority Tompuon villagers appeared in a Ratanakkiri court on Friday to face accusations of land-grabbing and protesting against a private company that purchased their land in 2007, authorities said yesterday.
Rocham Pheun, an assistant to the chief of Keh Chung commune in Bakeo district, told the Post that the provincial court put out 15 warrants, summonsing himself and 14 other villagers to court after the company filed a complaint, though only four villagers appeared. …
The company is listed in court documents as Ly Sokkim Co, Ltd, though a Ministry of Commerce database does not list any registered business under that name. …
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013052065713/National/ethnic-villagers-firm-battle-over-ratanakkiri-plot.html
Instalment payments for goods gaining purchase
May 17th, 2013, The Phnom Penh Post, Banking & Finance, Business & Commercial Development, Domestic Investment, Economics, Financial Services, Foreign Investment, News Source
AEON Microfinance (Cambodia) Co, part of Japan-based AEON Group, said sales by instalment for electrical appliances and motorbikes increased by 715 per cent in the first quarter of 2013 year on year, a trend industry experts say will grow further with increasing demand for electronics.
Started in December 2011, loan disbursement reached $2.5 million with 5,000 new customers in the first quarter of this year, compared to $343,000 in the same period of 2012, managing director Daisuke Maeda told the Post yesterday.
“Smartphones and PCs are the most popular, followed by motorbikes,” he said. …
The total loan portfolio of AEON Microfinance (Cambodia) at the end of the first quarter this year was about $4 million, with 6,500 customers, Daisuke Maeda said. …
Anne Renzenbrink
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013051765679/Business/instalment-payments-for-goods-gaining-purchase.html
MIME launches business award
May 17th, 2013, The Phnom Penh Post, Business & Commercial Development, Domestic Investment, Industry, News Source
The government wants to play a bigger role in helping local businesses remain competitive and, to this end, the Ministry of Industry, Mines and Energy (MIME) has launched a new award to recognise companies that have achieved high produc-tivity standards.
Ten companies will be awarded in September this year under the initiative, called the 5S Productivity Award. 5S is a Japan-based workplace organisation method – which will also be used as judging criteria – focusing on increasing efficiency and safety through methods such as “sorting”, or eliminating unnecessary processes, and “standardising”, or keeping procedures simplified. …
Rann Reuy
http://phnompenhpost.com/2013051765677/Business/mime-launches-business-award.html
Cambodian PM inaugurates rubber processing plant in far northern province
May 15th, 2013, Xinhuanet News, Agriculture & Agri-business, Agro-Industry, Business & Commercial Development, Domestic Investment, Economic Land Concessions, Exports, Industry, Land Tenure
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen on Wednesday inaugurated a rubber processing plant here, saying the factory would contribute to developing the country’s fast-growing rubber sector.
The 7 million U.S. dollar plant, invested by Cambodia’s Sopheak Nika Investment Agro-Industry Company, was built on the area of 9 hectares in Sesan district of Stung Treng province, about 455 kilometers from Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia, according the company’s report. …
The report said the company received economic concessional land of 10,000 hectares from the government in March 2005 in order to grow rubber trees, and to date, the firm has invested 19 million U. S. dollars for rubber plantation. …
As of last year, the government had granted about 1.2 million hectares of economic concession land to companies for rubber plantation, the premier said, adding that so far, the country has planted rubber trees on the area of 280,350 hectares, and about 55, 000 hectares of them are old enough to be yielded.
Xinhuanet Staff
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2013-05/15/c_132384351.htm
Koh Kong cashes in on conservation
May 14th, 2013, The Phnom Penh Post, Business & Commercial Development, Domestic Investment, Environment & Natural Resources, Industry, News Source, Timber/Wood, Tourism
Koh Kong province’s mangrove forests have changed from being a source of charcoal to serving tourists who help to protect their biodiversity. The forests have now become a popular destination for Cambodian tourists. …
Yem Yan, Peam Krasorb commune chief in Koh Kong, said gradually visitors have been coming from different provinces in the country.
He said Peam Krasorb community earned about 140 million riel ($35,000) from selling tickets to 40,000 visitors – Cambodian visitors pay 3,000 riel and foreigners pay 5,000 riel per day – per year in the last few years. …
Yem Yan said mangrove forests were being destroyed in the 1990s because villagers made charcoal, but since the year 2000 there has been strict protection of mangrove forests. …
Rann Reuy
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013051465588/Business/koh-kong-cashes-in-on-conservation.html
Investment and Trade Fair Opens In Koh Kong
May 13th, 2013, The Phnom Penh Post, Business & Commercial Development, Domestic Investment, Economics, Exports, Foreign Investment, Imports, International Relations, News Source, Trade
The first three-day Koh Kong Investment and Trade Fair 2013 kicked off on Saturday, promoting trade and investment in the southern provinces of Cambodia with neighbours Thailand and Vietnam. …
“The [fair] is aimed at promoting trade and development in Koh Kong province and other border provinces in the southern region of the country, which is to further enlarge trade and the economy between Cambodian provinces, and with the provinces of Thailand and Vietnam that are boardering Cambodia in this southern region,” said Cham Prasidh, Cambodia’s Minister of Commerce. …
May Kunmakara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013051365565/Business/investment-and-trade-fair-opens-in-koh-kong.html
CIMB says Local Investors Bring More Franchises to Cambodia
May 10th, 2013, The Cambodia Daily, Business & Commercial Development, Domestic Investment, Economics, Foreign Investment, Industry, International Relations, Trade
The steady growth of franchises from overseas is likely to continue as young, moneyed Cambodians seize the opportunity to bring name brands into the country, a bank official said yesterday. …
Hoping to help its customers and others invest in franchises, Malaysia-based CIMB Bank yesterday organized a talk on franchising at the Malaysian Embassy in Phnom Penh. …
Thida Heng, CIMB head of retail financial services, said franchises were a reliable investment for young Cambodians looking to get into business and move away from property investments following the 2008 property crisis. …
Food and drink franchises are gradually setting up in Cambodia, taking advantage of the market provided by an increasingly wealthy urban population. …
Simon Lewis, P.21
www.cambodiadaily.com
Cambodia Airlines to add planes
May 10th, 2013, The Phnom Penh Post, Business & Commercial Development, Domestic Investment, News Source
Cambodia Airlines plans to spend $1.5 billion to acquire up to 22 planes, a move that might see the new airline’s eventual fleet size overtake that of national carrier Cambodia Angkor Air.
“We [will be] starting to deploy 16 to 22 aircraft immediately once it’s ready to fly,” said Ramon Ang, president of Philippine Airlines, in a report published yesterday by Manila-based news network Rappler. …
Low Wei Xiang
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013051065531/Business/cambodia-airlines-to-add-planes.html
Macau To Cambodia Route ‘In Negotiation’
May 8th, 2013, The Phnom Penh Post, Business & Commercial Development, Domestic Investment, Economics, Foreign Investment, Industry, International Relations, News Source, Tourism
A new air route may connect Macau and Cambodia this year, a move industry experts say would reduce travel costs in the region and reflects tourist interests in both destinations’ gambling industries.
Several airlines are in contact with CAM, Macau International Airport Co, “seeking to launch [a] route to Cambodia later this year,” a press release on Macau International Airport’s website said on May 4. …
Businesspeople would be able to connect to Hong Kong or Guangzhou via Macau, he said. From Cambodia, flights to both Hong Kong and Guangzhou “are always overbooked, and then the price is very high,” he [VLK Royal Tourism Co Ltd general manager Lav Heng], said, adding that a Macau route would make the journey more affordable.
He agreed there was an interest from Macau tourists to visit local casinos. “That’s a market you have,” he said.
Anne Renzenbrink
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013050865475/Business/macau-to-cambodia-route-in-negotiation.html
Ministry Cancels Telco Limits
May 7th, 2013, The Phnom Penh Post, Business & Commercial Development, Domestic Investment, Economics, Foreign Investment, Industry, News Source, Telecommunications
An often flouted and publicly unpopular restriction forbidding Cambodia’s telecoms from offering lucrative mobile phone promotions was scrapped on Sunday, just two weeks after it was introduced.
In a letter from the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications (MPTC), signed by Minister So Khun, it announced a halt to the implementation of the decision made between the Telecommunication Regulator of Cambodia (TRC) and all phone operators on April 22, when eight out of nine operators agreed to stop the promotions that violate a 2009 interministerial prakas. …
Moa Chakrya, director of the TRC, said fmost of the operators agreed on what the prakas said, but Sunday’s announcement by the MPTC did not provide any restrictions on the use of promotions on those mobile operators. …
Minimum tariffs for within- and cross-network calls have also caused disputes among the operators and the TRC. Moa Chakrya yesterday did not say whether or not the tariffs should be cheaper or more expensive than currently required in the prakas. …
Rann Reuy and Anne Renzenbrink
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013050765438/Business/ministry-cancels-telco-limits.html
Kids beaten over ELC
May 6th, 2013, The Phnom Penh Post, Business & Commercial Development, Disputed Land, Domestic Investment, Economic Land Concessions, Land Tenure, News Source
Five men working for Ratanakkiri rubber concessionaire DM Group, including a soldier, have been arrested for allegedly beating a villager and his children – one of whom, doctors say, may not survive – in a scuffle over their family’s land, the father said yesterday.
Police confirmed the beating and said the soldier would be sent to court today for questioning, while the four non-military suspects would be sent to be charged.
The father, 52-year-old Ry Sarun, said that on Saturday two bulldozers and 30 DM Group workers came to his land in Ratanakkiri’s Andong Meas district – which had previously been measured and titled by Prime Minister Hun Sen’s youth volunteers – and began to clear it. …
DM Group has been implicated in a slew of alleged abuses in its long-running land disputes in Ratanakkiri. Villagers have claimed to have been intimidated by the concessionaire, and observers have suggested that the company has used lawsuits to stifle dissent. …
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013050665430/National/kids-beaten-over-elc.html
NGO, Boeung Kak activists offer solution
May 3rd, 2013, The Phnom Penh Post, Business & Commercial Development, Disputed Land, Domestic Investment, Land Tenure, News Source
The Boeung Kak community and a land rights NGO yesterday released a proposed demarcation plan they say could solve the long-standing land dispute.
In a map presented yesterday, villagers said they had agreed on a land division that would make room for 70 families locked out of a plot created by the government and set aside for hundreds of families. …
Khouth Sophak Chakrya
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013050365397/National/ngo-b-kak-activists-offer-solution.html
Angry Villagers Confront Workers
May 1st, 2013, The Phnom Penh Post, Agriculture & Agri-business, Agro-Industry, Business & Commercial Development, Disputed Land, Domestic Investment, Economic Land Concessions, Environment & Natural Resources, Farming, Forests, Land Tenure, News Source, Protected Areas, Timber/Wood
Jarai minority villagers in Ratanakkiri’s O’Yadav district protested in two locations yesterday against a Vietnamese company that community leaders say has been clearing their protected land and forcing villagers to accept inadequate compensation.
Community leader Sev Hem said 30 angry villagers directly confronted five Company 72 workers and their bulldozers in Yatung commune’s Ten village yesterday. …
Villagers and local rights group Adhoc claim Company 72 had forced 10 families in Ten village to give their thumbprints to an agreement accepting $200 per hectare in compensation. …
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013050165347/National/angry-villagers-confront-workers.html
Telecoms Regulator Calls For Price Meeting
May 1st, 2013, The Phnom Penh Post, Business & Commercial Development, Domestic Investment, Economics, News Source
The Telecommunication Regulator of Cambodia (TRC) is calling all mobile phone operators to attend a meeting next week in order to reconsider the costs for within-and across-network calls, after disputes over bonus promotions in Cambodia’s crowded telecoms market.
TRC director Mao Chakrya said that for the meeting on Thursday next week he would discuss the “cost base” of phone calls to which all operators’ representatives agree on, in order to avoid having costs below the agreed price. …
In an effort to tackle price disputes between the mobile operators and to set minimum tariffs, the Ministry of Economy and Finance and the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications signed the Inter-Ministerial Prakas Number 232 on Minimum Tariffs of Mobile and Fixed Telephone Services and Interconnection Fees in December 2009.
According the prakas, the minimum cost of calls within a network is 4.5 US cents per minute. …
Rann Reuy and Anne Renzenbrink
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013050165340/Business/telecoms-regulator-calls-for-price-meeting.html
Government To Push Digital Empowerment
April 30th, 2013, The Phnom Penh Post, Business & Commercial Development, Domestic Investment, Economics, Industry, News Source, Telecommunications
Senior government officials yesterday were promoting the development of the information and communication technologies (ICT) sector in the Kingdom, particularly the concept of digital empowerment among young people.
Deputy Prime Minister Sok An, who presided over the opening of ITU Asia-Pacific Regional Development Forum, held in Phnom Penh, said Cambodia is a country that has more mobile phone subscriptions than the entire size of the population. …
The growth of mobile phones has been considerable in Cambodian over the last few years: in 2012 numbers of mobile and fixed-line phones was 19.7 million; while the year before the numbers were 16.2 million, according to report of Ministry of Post and Telecommunication for 2012. …
Rann Reuy
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013043065306/Business/government-to-push-digital-empowerment.html