A Malaysian Court yesterday sentenced a couple to 24 years in jail for culpable homicide after their Cambodian maid starved to death while working for them in their home on the northwest coast of Penag, Agence France Press (AFP) reported. …
Cambodian opposition lawmaker and former Minister of Women’s Affairs Mu Sochua yesterday welcomed the sentence, saying it was a positive sign as it marked the first time the Malaysian authorities had put anyone on trail following the abuse or death of a Cambodian domestic worker in that country. …
In October 2011, Prime Minister Hun Sen banned the sending of Cambodian domestic workers to Malaysia after mounting reports of abuse and generally harsh and inhumane working conditions. …
Since the moratorium on sending workers to Malaysia, both countries said they would work on an agreement to protect Cambodian workers in Malaysia.
An initial draft by Malaysia was much-criticized for not including, for example, rules on minimum wage. …
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.
The National Assembly of Cambodia on Friday ratified the agreement on maritime transport between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and China, saying the agreement is essential to develop trade and economic ties between ASEAN and China. …
“The agreement aims to facilitate and foster cooperation in passenger and cargo transport by sea among the signatories,” Nin Saphon, Chairwoman of the National Assembly’s Commission on Public Work, Industry, Mines, Energy, Commerce, and Land Management, said during the session. …
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. …
The Ministry of Commerce has released figures showing Cambodia’s export of fishery goods including fresh and dried fish products have decreased drastically in the first quarter of the year, though several government officials viewed the figures with scepticism.
Cambodia exported 49.9 tonnes of fish products in the first quarter of the year a sizable drop from the 620.14 tonnes exported over the same period in 2012, the ministry’s data showed. …
Om Savath, executive director of Cambodia’s Fish Action Coalition Team, said that in general fishery production had declined this year, as the government had reduced the number of fishing lots throughout the country. …
Cambodia and Uruguay on Thursday signed an agreement on visa exemption for diplomatic and official passport holders, aiming at creating close contacts among the two countries’ diplomats, officials and business people, officials said.
The deal was inked here between Long Visalo, secretary of state at Cambodian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Gerardo Prato Rodriguez, Malaysia-based Ambassador of Uruguay to Cambodia. …
Rubber exports from Cambodia were up over 17 per cent in the first quarter of 2013, but the revenue from rubber stayed steady as prices decline worldwide, according to data from the Ministry of Commerce.
The data showed that in the first quarter of this year, total export increased to 15,019 tonnes from 12,805 tonnes in the same period last year.
However, the price of rubber decreased sharply, by $461 per tonne for the three-month period, from $3,216.52 per tonne in the early part of the year, to $2,755.34 by the end of the quarter. Total revenue reached $41,382,434 so far
this year, compared with $41,187,582 the previous year. …
Cambodian garment exports are expected to grow in 2013 with the increasing foreign investments along with focus on new market including Japan and China, according to the Garment Manufactures Association of Cambodia (GMAC). In 2012, apparel exports of Cambodia grew nine percent to US$ 4.61 billion as compared to exports worth US$ 4.24 billion in 2011. …
Singapore, the US, Malaysia, Japan, Thailand, Australia, England and India were some other countries that invested in Cambodian apparel sector in 2012. However, ongoing economic crisis in the traditional export markets such as the US and the EU coupled with numerous strikes are slowing export growth of Cambodia. …
The World Bank upgraded Monday its GDP growth forecast for Cambodia to 7.0 percent for this year, up 0.3 of a percentage point from its last projection in December.
“In Cambodia, a likely stabilization in high-income country conditions should support further improvements in garment production and exports,” the bank said in explaining the upgrade. …
Cambodia’s growth last year, estimated at 7.3 percent, was “faster than expected,” the update said, adding that it was “bolstered by the strong performance of agriculture, construction and tourism and a recovery in garments.”
In a separate statement, World Bank East Asia and Pacific Vice President Axel van Trotsenburg said the region accounted for about 40 percent of global growth last year. …
Going by the World Bank’s method of grouping nation states by their wealth, Cambodia this year could become a lower-middle income country.
Not satisfied, however, with this graduation—a feat in itself from Cambodia’s position of extreme poverty just two decades ago when gross domestic product (GDP) per capita was $240—the government is already eyeing the next milestone. ..
If this happens, Cambodia could gain membership to the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, a branch of the World Bank, and give the government access to more capital. As a low-income country, Cambodia has only had access to concessional loans from the World Bank’s International Development Association. …
Government estimates predict that by 2030, Cambodia’s population will have reached 18.4 million, meaning that to achieve an upper-middle income GDP per capita, the total size of the economy would need to top $74 billion.
This would mean the economy multiplying more than five times in 18 years—from its 2012 size of $14.25 billion—and would require GDP growth of more than 9.5 percent annually over the period. …
Cambodia ranks last in travel and tourism competitiveness among eight Southeast Asian countries, according to a recently published study by the World Economic Forum.
The Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report 2013, which excluded Laos and Myanmar, said Cambodia comes 106th out of 140 countries this year, compared to placing 109th in 2011.
While the number of international tourist arrivals in Cambodia is increasing, the sector is still lacking a regulatory framework, an effective business environment and infrastructure, as well as human, cultural and natural resources, the report said. …
Mong Reththy Group (MRG), Cambodia’s largest exporter of palm oil, hopes to expand its exports to European markets this year.
Mong Reththy, president of the firm, said the quota-free and duty-free trade frameworks provided by European governments factored heavily into the decision.
“About 50 per cent of our total exports, which were worth about $27 million last year, went to European countries. They provided us with quota-free and duty-free access so that we can get $60 per tonne, compared with Malaysia or Thailand, which require us to pay tax. That is a great benefit,” he said. …
Philippe Laurent became secretary-general of Cambodia Airports in May 2008. He was one of six senior executives in charge of the country’s international airports in Phnom Penh, Siem Reap and the little-used facility in Sihanoukville. …
Mr. Laurent is now carrying out a one-man campaign against Cambodia Airports in Cambodia and in France, where Vinci, the company’s major stakeholder, is headquartered. He has lobbied French politicians, the press, and financial regulators. He is doing the same in Cambodia, telling his story to anyone who will listen. …
Cambodia Airports is 70 percent owned by Vinci Group, Europe’s largest construction company, and 30 percent by Muhibbah Masteron (Cambodia). Muhibbah Masteron is 70 percent owned by Malaysia conglomerate Muhibbah Engineering Berhad and 30 percent owned by two Cambodian businessmen, Kong Triv and Hann Khieng. …
Cambodia Airports earns revenues of about $100 million every year through a $25 service charge for every passenger that passes through the airport, as well as landing fees, aircraft cleaning fees, parking tickets, cargo related business, storage facilities, and leasing floor space to airline companies, fuel supply companies and the airport’s catering business. It also earns money from commercial shops inside and outside of terminal buildings. …
“My colleagues and I have worked for several years to try and assassinate the unethical environment of these businesses, but to no avail. We have just discovered a short time ago that we were in a money laundering machine for the management of the group at an international level between the following countries: Cambodia, Malaysia and France,” Mr. Laurent told the senators. …
Cambodia Airports refuted all of Mr. Laurent’s allegations “with the highest firmness.”
“Regarding Philippe Laurent’s allegations, we referred the case to the head office, especially Vinci’s ethical committee and an investigation has been performed. The ethical committee has concluded that the specific allegation raised by Philippe Laurent is without merit,” Khek Norinda, communications director of Cambodia Airports, said in an e-mail. …
With Cambodia Airport’s contract to run for another 27 years, and with tourism the one area of the Cambodian economy assured to see massive growth in that time, and with French and Malaysian companies winning associated lucrative contracts, homegrown business resentment would seem an obvious backdrop to the business environment and Mr. Laurent’s campaign. …
As it transpired, Bouygues settled their dispute out of court with Mr. Laurent for a sum of money that he would not disclose for this article.
Prior to 2013, Dom Dorn, a farmer in Phnom Sruoch district of Kampong Speu province, used oxen to farm his white-rice paddies; now, after just his second harvest of sowing phkarmalis (also known as jasmine or fragrant rice), he is using a kor yun, or hand-held motorised tractor to plant his seeds. …
Traditionally sourced from Thailand, fragrant rice also flourishes in Cambodia’s climate and soil conditions, a fact that has led to a sharp rise in demand for the Kingdom’s product.
Data released yesterday from the Secretariat of One Window Service for Rice Export show that Cambodian rice exports for the first three months of 2013 amounted to 95,228 tonnes, already close to half of last year’s total exports, and almost three times the 36,430 tonnes exported in the same period of 2012. …
Asia and the Pacific continued as a hot spot for international tourism in 2012, attracting what is expected to be in excess of 350 million international visitor arrivals, expanding its collective inbound count by more than 5% and generating more than 18 million additional foreign visits, year-on-year. …
Within this sub-region, Myanmar had a staggering increase of almost 52% in arrivals, while Cambodian and Lao PDR reported gains of 24% and 22% respectively. …
According to the figures by the Ministry of Tourism, the number of visitor arrival in 2012 was 3,584,307, an increase of 25 percent in comparing to 2011 and earned 2 billion US dollars for nation income this year. Through tourism industry, it created 350,000 labor forces and in 2015, it is expected that it will attract about 4.5 million foreign investors and in 2020, it could reach to 7 million. …
Khmer Brewery, the maker of Cambodia Beer, plans to begin sales to France, the company’s third export market, this month, having tasted success in Japan and Malaysia.
It is one of six breweries in the Kingdom, but the only one whose investor base is local.
With a capital investment of $60 million, Khmer Brewery began selling to the domestic market in November, 2011. …
In 2011, food and beverages contributed $1 billion, 40 per cent of which came from the brewing industry, to Cambodia’s economy.
Malaysia-based agricultural and commodities company Felda Global Ventures Holdings is considering investing in palm oil, sugar and rubber crops in Cambodia.
Felda Global head of corporate communications Izan Hussain said yesterday the company had received numerous business proposals, but had not made any decisions.
“Our discussions and explorations of possible business activities in Cambodia are still in the early stages, and we are not able to divulge these yet,” Hussain told the Post. …
The number of large-scale factories in Cambodia has increased by 29 percent to 907 in 2012, Minister of Industry, Mine and Energy Suy Sen said Thursday.
Those large-scale enterprises employed 559,600 employees last year, a 38 percent increase from 403,560 a year earlier, he said during the ministry’s annual conference. …
The large-scale enterprises produced products in equivalent to 5.4 billion U.S. dollars last year, up 10 percent year-on-year, according to the ministry’s report released at the conference. …
Malaysia-based Harta Packaging Industries Sdn Bhd opened a new Cambodian factory to meet the demands of a growing exports sector and benefit from Sihanoukville port’s ambitious expansion plans, officials said.
Harta Packaging, a wholly owned subsidiary of HPI Resources Berhad and part of the Oji Paper Group of Japan, is aiming for a $9 million turnover for its recently opened Cambodian factory by December, according to group general manager Chang Kee Soon. …
Lou Kim Chhun, Sihanoukville Autonomous Port’s chief executive, said yesterday the port currently has plans for an $85 million expansion. He said it would be too early to give further details, however. …
Malaysia-based Hibiscus Petroleum Berhad has tied up with Rex International Holding Pte Ltd to participate in exploration opportunities in Cambodia and 10 other countries across the Asia-Pacific region, according to a statement released last Thursday.
Hibiscus’s wholly owned subsidiary Orient Hibiscus Sdn Bhd and Rex International Holding subsidiary Rex South East Asia Ltd have formed the 50-50 joint venture HiRex Petroleum Sdn Bhd, which will have the right of first refusal to participate in exploration opportunities across Southeast Asia as well as Australia and New Zealand. …
The Edge Malaysia reported in January that Petronas, Malaysia’s national oil and gas firm, was again eyeing the Cambodian oil and gas sector almost three years after withdrawing from the Kingdom. …
