CNRP Lawmaker Visits Controversial Plantation
May 22nd, 2013, The Cambodia Daily, Agriculture & Agri-business, Agro-Industry, Disputed Land, Economic Land Concessions, Environment & Natural Resources, Forests, Industry, Land Tenure, Social Concerns, Timber/Wood
Opposition lawmaker Son Chhay said yesterday that he would ask the government to cancel the land concession of a Vietnamese rubber firm in Ratanakkiri province he accused of logging and exporting wood illegally.
Mr. Chay, a candidate in July’s national election for the Cambodia National Rescue Party, wrapped up a three-day visit to Company 72’s rubber plantation in O’Yadaw district yesterday, during which he said he saw the firm’s employees logging inside thick, healthy forest. The country’s forest laws only allow concessionaires to fell forests inside their boundaries if degraded. …
Human rights groups and local communities have long accused rubber firms operating in Ratanakkiri of illegally encroaching on ethnic minority land and clearing community forests vital to the province’s minority groups. …
Aun Pheap, P.19
www.cambodiadaily.com
Cambodia launches cassava development project under China, UNDP support
May 21st, 2013, Xinhuanet News, Agriculture & Agri-business, Agro-Industry, Business & Commercial Development, Economics, Exports, Farming, Foreign Aid, Industry, International Relations, Technical Assistance, Trade
Cambodia launched Tuesday the second phase of cassava development project under the support of China and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). …
Cambodia and China signed a Protocol on the Exports of Cambodian Cassava to Chinese Market in December 2010, under which China allowed Cambodia to export its standardized cassava chips to China.
Teng Lao said cassava is the second agricultural crop in Cambodia and plays a very important role in Cambodia’s agriculture and economic development.
He said last year, the country grew cassava crop on an area of 337,440 hectares, producing about 8 million tons of fresh cassava. “About 50 percent of fresh cassava, 40 percent of dry cassava and 10 percent of cassava powder were sold to Vietnam and Thailand, “he said.”And Vietnam and Thailand re-sell those cassava products to international markets, particularly China.” …
Setsuko Yamazaki, country director of UNDP to Cambodia, said that currently, Cambodian cassava farmers, processors and exporters are facing enormous constraints such as price distortions in neighboring countries, lack of information on price and quality criteria of importing markets and lack of access to technology. “Though cassava has become the second largest agricultural crop in term of income, employment, hectares cultivated and exports, there is very little technical assistance support provided to the sector,”she said. …
Xinhuanet Staff
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china/2013-05/21/c_132397799.htm
Fear Remains as Factory Reopens
May 21st, 2013, The Phnom Penh Post, Business & Commercial Development, Construction, Disasters & Disaster Management, Garment Industry, Industry, Labor, News Source, Social Concerns
More than 20 people fainted yesterday at the Wing Star Shoes factory in Kampong Speu province, where two workers were crushed to death in a ceiling collapse last Thursday.
Workers and union officials said an electrical short-circuit scared workers returning for the first time since the tragedy.
Hong Seng Lim, president of the Development Movement Union of Cambodia Labour at Wing Star, said 21 workers were taken to hospital, but their conditions weren’t serious.
“An electric short-circuit made a loud noise, scaring workers and causing them to run out of the factory.”
Wing Star, a supplier to Japanese brand Asics, allowed its 7,000 workers the rest of the day off, Seng Lim said. …
Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013052165744/National/fear-remains-as-factory-reopens.html
Cambodians Abroad Sent Home $256M Last Year
May 21st, 2013, The Cambodia Daily, Banking & Finance, Business & Commercial Development, Economics, Financial Services, Industry, International Relations, Labor, Production
Cambodian migrant workers sent home $256 million last year, according to a report from a U.N. agency and the World Bank, which was released in Bangkok yesterday.
The report from the bank and Rome-based International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD), titled Sending Money Home to Asia, found that migrants from Asia sent a total of $260 billion in international remittances in 2012. …
“[B]ut high [bank] fees and limited financial services outside of urban areas are reducing the benefits of those remittances for millions of rural residents,” says a joint statement accompanying the report.
The report does not specifically outline how serious these problems are in Cambodia, which received $256 million, or 1.8 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), in remittances last year. Workers sending money home are charged on average 5.59 percent on remittances to Cambodia, the report says. ….
But the report notes Cambodia’s high saturation of microfinance institutions (MFIs) in the provinces means that rural access to remittances is likely better than elsewhere.
MFI’s account for 26 percent of transfers to Cambodia, but the costs for these transfers average 10 percent of the amount being sent, the report says. …
Moeun Tola, head of the labor program at the Community Legal Education Center, said many migrant workers, especially those working in Thailand send money back through informal channels, which would not be included in the report. …
Simon Lewis
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/cambodians-abroad-sent-home-256m-last-year-25574/
Cambodia, Vietnam Trade Rises
May 20th, 2013, The Cambodia Herald, Agriculture & Agri-business, Business & Commercial Development, Corn, Economics, Energy, Exports, Imports, Industry, International Relations, News Source, Oil, Trade
Two-way trade between Vietnam and Cambodia in the first four months of the year reached nearly US$1.3 billion, a 10 per cent rise over the same period last year.
According to the Vietnam Trade Office in Cambodia, Vietnam’s exports to Cambodia fetched over $1 billion while its imports were $253 million in the four-month period. …
The Cambodia Herald Staff
http://www.thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=13&token=YzA1YWUwMDU3OTh
Cambodia sells more, buys less
May 20th, 2013, Bangkok Post, Agriculture & Agri-business, Business & Commercial Development, Economics, Exports, Garment Industry, Imports, Industry, International Relations, pharmaceuticals, Trade
Trade between Thailand and Cambodia went off in a wild divergence in the first quarter of this year.
Exports from Cambodia rose 19% to US$102 million (2.9 billion baht) year-on-year, while Thailand’s imports recorded a 4% decline to $1 billion, the Phnom Penh Post reported on Monday, citing figures from the Cambodian Commerce Ministry. …
“A lot of Cambodian agricultural products are being exported to Thailand as some barriers have been [adjusted] and that’s why we are seeing imports from Cambodia to Thailand increasing quite a lot,” Thai trade counselor Jiranun Wongmongkol told the newspaper. …
Rising exports from Cambodia to Thailand are following a similar trend overall. Cambodian exports to other countries jumped more than 20% in the first quarter of this year compared with the same period last year, according to the ministry. …
Bangkok Post Staff
http://www.bangkokpost.com/breakingnews/351002/strong-baht-sends-thai-exports-to-cambodia-down
Investments in Cambodia Up
May 20th, 2013, The Cambodia Herald, Agriculture & Agri-business, Banking & Finance, Business & Commercial Development, Economics, Energy, Exports, Foreign Investment, Imports, Industry, International Relations, Labor, News Source, Telecommunications, Tourism, Trade
Vietnam’s investment in Cambodia has increased significantly in the last three years, but a mechanism to encourage and oversee investments in prioritized sectors is needed, according to diplomatic sources.
Tan Nguyen Tien, head of the economic section at the Vietnamese embassy in Phnom Penh, said Vietnam’s investments in Cambodia quadrupled from $566 million in 41 projects in 2010 to $2.5 billion last year. …
Tien said Vietnam Airlines’ direct services between the two countries and Viettel’s telecom service in Cambodia have helped boost Vietnamese investment in that country. …
There are also four projects in the energy sector with a total investment of nearly $800 million, five in finance-banking with $250 million, one telecom project capitalized at $150 million, and a civil aviation project worth $100 million.
Vietnamese FDI in Cambodia is expected to top $4 billion by 2015, and trade between the countries to increase from $3 billion last year to $5 billion by 2015. …
The Cambodia Herald Staff
http://www.thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=13&token=NjA1NjRhYTIxOTd
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
Cambodia exports to Thailand rise as nations improve economic ties
May 20th, 2013, The Phnom Penh Post, Business & Commercial Development, Economics, Exports, Imports, International Relations, News Source, Trade
Cambodia’s total exports to Thailand sharply increased in the first quarter of the year, according to official data from Ministry of Commerce received by the Post last week.
Officials said the rise is the result of efforts by both countries to improve trade facilitation and economic relations.
According to the data, total exports from Cambodia totalled $102 million in the first quarter of the year, compared with $85.43 million in the first quarter of last year, an increase of 19.4 per cent. However, total imports from Thailand declined more than 4 per cent, to $1.005 billion from $1.048 billion. …
May Kunmakara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013052065703/Business/cambodia-exports-to-thailand-rise-as-nations-improve-economic-ties.html
ASICS Wants Monitoring Of Cambodian Sub-Contractors After Accident
May 17th, 2013, The Nation, Business & Commercial Development, Construction, Disasters & Disaster Management, Economics, Garment Industry, Industry, Infrastructure, International Relations, Labor, Social Concerns
The Japanese athletics brand ASICS said Friday that it would push its four Cambodian sub-contractors to join a programme that monitors conditions in garment and shoe factories. …
“We will strongly request to our sub-contractors in Cambodia to sign up to this programme,” Katsumi Funakoshi, ASICS spokesman, said by email. …
The Better Factories Cambodia programme, which is voluntary, was set up in 2001 and is run by the International Labour Organization. It monitors factories making clothing and shoes for export to ensure they comply with a range of issues, such as fire safety, working conditions and prompt payment of wages.
Thursday’s accident showed the programme should also monitor factory construction, its chief technical adviser, Jill Tucker, said. …
She called on the hundreds of buyers from other countries that source from Cambodia, including Japan, to take responsibility for the factories where their products were made and join the initiative. …
The Nation Staff
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/breakingnews/ASICS-wants-monitoring-of-Cambodian-sub-contractor-30206398.html
After Factory Collapse, Questions Mount Over ILO Monitoring
May 17th, 2013, The Cambodia Daily, Business & Commercial Development, Construction, Disasters & Disaster Management, Garment Industry, Industry, Infrastructure, International Relations, Labor, Social Concerns
Labor rights activists and a government official accused the International Labor Organization’s Better Factories Cambodia program of ineffectiveness in its monitoring of factory conditions following a deadly ceiling collapse on Thursday at a shoe factory in Kompong Speu province.
Moeun Tola, labor program head of the Community Legal Education Center, a labor rights group, said that Better Factories Cambodia had failed workers by not disclosing the names of factories that flout the country’s laws on factory health and safety. …
In February, a team of Stanford University Law School researchers published a report titled Monitoring in the Dark, charging that the lack of transparency in the Better Factories program had actually set back garment industry standards for Cambodian workers, compared to their counterparts in China, Indonesia and Vietnam.
The researchers also said that the ILO’s “confidential reporting practice” reduces incentives for factory owners and international brands to improve working conditions in Cambodian factories. …
Authorities yesterday said the ceiling collapse in the Wing Star Factory-which produces running shoes for the Japanese spots brand Asics-was due to dangerous building practices. …
Jill Tucker, technical adviser for Better Factories Cambodia, said her program did not monitor the Wing Star factory “in any capacity,” as the monitoring of footwear factories by the ILO program only started last year. …
Regarding the ILO’s decision not to name factories that flout safety regulations, Ms. Tucker defended the way the program operates.
“We are in the process [of] taking programmatic steps toward publicly releasing some non-compliance information and the name of the factory it is connected to,” she said.
The Better Factories program also does not monitor factory construction standards, although Ms. Tucker said that issues such as electrical wiring, overloading on platforms and pathway obstructions are recorded. …
Dene-Hern Chen and Kaing Menghun,
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/after-factory-collapse-questions-mount-over-ilo-monitoring-24860/
Cambodian buses in Saigon to be strictly controlled
May 17th, 2013, Vietnamnet, Business & Commercial Development, Industry, International Relations, Social Concerns, Tourism
In the petition to the National Road Administration, Deputy Director of the HCM City Department of Transportation – Mr. Duong Hong Thanh, reported that at the time the Vietnam-Cambodia agreement on land transportation took effect, only 40 cars of each country were allowed to cross the border. However, the number of vehicles has increased to 450, with a lot of problems. …
Through Cambodian-managed agents and companies in Vietnam, these cars transport Vietnamese passengers for free from Vietnam to Cambodia to gamble. Cambodian buses also transport Vietnamese traveler within the territory of Vietnam. …
Vietnamnet Staff
http://english.vietnamnet.vn/fms/society/74337/cambodian-buses-in-saigon-to-be-strictly-control.html
Cambodian factory deaths shine spotlight on conditions
May 16th, 2013, DW, Business & Commercial Development, Construction, Disasters & Disaster Management, Garment Industry, Industry, Infrastructure, International Relations, Labor, Social Concerns
The deaths of at least two Cambodian workers and injuries sustained by 10 colleagues at a shoe factory southwest of Phnom Penh once more shine a light on conditions in the global garment manufacturing industry.
Thursday’s accident at the Wing Star Shoe factory in the Cambodian capital took place when a section of ceiling collapsed onto a group of several dozen workers. The factory, which has 7,000 staff, is contracted to manufacture shoes for Japanese athletics brand ASICS. …
Dave Welsh, the country director at the American Center for International Labor Solidarity, a labour group, visited Wing Star on Thursday and said it looked as though the ceiling at the Taiwanese-owned factory had been “badly overloaded” with materials. …
Garment and shoe manufacturing is now a pillar of Cambodia’s economy: Exports last year, most of which went to the European Union and the United States, brought in 4.6 billion US dollars.
The industry is also the largest formal employer with more than 350,000 workers. …
[Secretary-general of Garment Manufacturers' Association in Cambodia Ken Loo] was quick to separate what happened in Cambodia with the disaster in Bangladesh, and said the ceiling collapse was not indicative of a systemic problem: instead the deaths and injuries at Wing Star, which is a GMAC member, looked more like the consequence of shoddy construction. …
Jill Tucker, the BFC’s chief technical adviser, said although Thursday’s accident was uncommon it had highlighted the need for factories to adhere to building standards too. …
Deutsche Welle Staff
http://www.dw.de/cambodian-factory-deaths-shine-spotlight-on-conditions/a-16819017
Hun Sen Hopes for Increased Rubber Exports
May 16th, 2013, The Cambodia Daily, Agriculture & Agri-business, Agro-Industry, Business & Commercial Development, Economic Land Concessions, Economics, Exports, Industry, Land Tenure, Social Concerns, Trade
Prime Minister Hun Sen said Wednesday that he hoped land being registered to rural families as part of the government’s nationwide land-titling program would be used to cultivate rubber trees in order to help the country compete with Vietnam as the world’s third-largest rubber exporter. …
Speaking at the opening of a $26 million rubber plantation and processing factory in Stung Treng province, Mr. Hun Sen said that by utilizing some of the 2 million hectares of land that has been registered under his titling program, Cambodia could reach its target of 840,000 hectares of rubber plantations within five years. …
Presently, there are 280,000 hectares of land planted with rubber trees, 118,000 of which is inside ELCs, while another 107,600 is on small-scale farms, Mr. Hun Sen said, adding that about 1 million of the approximately 1.5 million hectares of land that has been leased to private companies as ELCs are registered as rubber plantations. …
Despite its growing rubber industry, much of Cambodia’s rubber is transported as liquid resin over the border to Vietnam to be processed, meaning Cambodia looses out on much of the value-added exports once the rubber has been processed.
Neou Vannarin
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/hun-sen-hopes-for-increased-rubber-exports-24502/
Bangladesh woes spare Kingdom
May 16th, 2013, The Phnom Penh Post, Business & Commercial Development, Economics, Exports, Garment Industry, Industry, Trade
A recent string of disasters rocking Bangladesh’s garment industry has highlighted its factories’ shocking safety record, and stoked optimism that giant fashion brands will flock to move their orders to countries like Cambodia.
But Cambodia’s garment industry has not experienced any major deluge of business so far, industry insiders said, and some even believe this may remain so for the long term, as Bangladesh tries to refurbish it image.
“So far, there have been no positive effects on Cambodia,” said the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia’s (GMAC) chairman, Van Sou Ieng. “There is just an increase in short-term orders to replace the non-delivery from Bangladesh [due to the recent disasters], but our factories have no capacity to take these up.” …
Low Wei Xiang and Anne Renzenbrink
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013051665643/Business/bangladesh-woes-spare-kingdom.html
Cambodia’s Beauty Industry Blossoming
May 16th, 2013, The Phnom Penh Post, Business & Commercial Development, Economics, Imports, Industry, International Relations, News Source, pharmaceuticals, Trade
The beauty business in the Kingdom is growing rapidly as incomes are rising and the middle-class is growing, industry insiders told the Post yesterday.
In the first three months of this year, the Kingdom imported cosmetic products worth $9.9 million, an increase of 130 per cent compared with the same period last year, import data from the Ministry of Commerce showed. …
According to industry insiders, young Cambodians open to Korean culture and lifestyle are a main driver for the development of the industry. …
Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013051665644/Business/cambodia-s-beauty-industry-blossoming.html
Think Tank Says Cambodia Isn’t Managing Its Resources
May 16th, 2013, The Cambodia Daily, Business & Commercial Development, Construction, Economics, Energy, Extractive Industries, Industry, Infrastructure, International Relations, Mining, Natural Gas, Oil, Social Concerns
With the potential for vast state revenues from oil extraction and mining in coming years, Cambodia is currently failing to manage its nascent extractive industries according to a think tank.
New York-based Revenue Watch Institute yesterday launched its 2013 Resource Governance Index, which included Cambodia for the first time. It looked at 58 countries, assessing governments’ reporting practices, control of corruption and rule of law in the oil, gas and mineral sectors. …
“While Cambodia received a fairly high score for its institutional and legal settings, the nation’s very low scores in its reporting practices and enabling environment accounted for its low ranking in resource governance,” a statement from Cambodians for Revenue Resource Transparency, a local Partner of Revenue Watch says. …
Simon Lewis,
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/think-tank-says-cambodia-isnt-managing-its-resources-24530/
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
Thai restrictions cap cassava exports
May 15th, 2013, The Phnom Penh Post, Agriculture & Agri-business, Agro-Industry, Business & Commercial Development, Economics, Exports, Industry, International Relations, Trade
Cambodia’s cassava exports reached 245,438 tonnes in the first quarter this year, a 47 per cent decline quarter-on-quarter, from 465,640 tonnes in the final quarter of last year, according to statistics from the Ministry of Commerce released early this month.
While most exports went to Thailand, Vietnam and China, where processing takes place, Thailand also is a major market for Cambodian cassava. Officials in border provinces and traders said Thailand’s restriction on cassava imports early this year and informal exports that have not been recorded are the reasons for the decline.
In Sovanmony, director of the agronomy, soil and improvement of agricultural department in Battambang province, a major cassava plantation area in Cambodia, told the Post yesterday that it is estimated that 30 to 35 per cent of the total exports go to Thailand without being officially recorded. …
During the first three months, the total value of Cambodia’s cassava exports reached $11.7 million, about 30 per cent of the total export value last year. However, the figure from the Ministry of Commerce shows that the export volume is only high during the first few months of the year.
Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013051565618/Business/thai-restrictions-cap-cassava-exports.html
Cambodia’s petroleum imports decrease
May 15th, 2013, The Phnom Penh Post, Business & Commercial Development, Economics, Energy, Imports, Industry, International Relations, Oil, Trade
The Kingdom imported 412,190 tonnes of petroleum in the first quarter of 2013, compared with 471,000 tonnes in the same period the previous year, a decline of 12 per cent, according to the Ministry of Commerce.
A private sector representative said the drop does not mean a slowdown in production but came as a result of more stock being kept over from 2012 because of price fluctuations.
The data showed that between January and March of this year the country spent $397 million on petroleum, down 15 per cent from $469 million during the same period last year. …
May Kunmakara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013051565620/Business/cambodia-s-petroleum-imports-decrease.html