About 5,000 Cambodian workers took to the street on Wednesday to mark the International Labor Day, calling for pay rise, better labor conditions and decrease in petrol prices, a union representative said.
Marchers, mostly garment workers, held banners and walked from the Freedom Park near the Wat Phnom historical site to the National Assembly in order to submit a petition to the National Assembly. …
The garment industry is Cambodia’s largest income earner, representing more than 80 percent of the country’s exports.
The latest report of the Ministry of Commerce showed that currently, the country has about 500 garment and footwear factories employing some 510,600 workers. Last year, the country exported garment products in equivalent to 4.6 billion U.S. dollars, up 8 percent year-on-year. …
The premier recalled that the worker’s monthly salary was just more than 50 U.S. dollars in 2008 and increased to 61 U.S. dollars in 2010 and further rose to 80 U.S. dollars from May 2013.
He said the government would be happy if the employers could increase more wage for workers.
Prime Minister Hun Sen chastised local authorities in Preah Sihanouk province on Friday for their inability to prevent a water shortage in early April that crippled businesses in the tourist hub of Sihanoukville and left locals without running water for almost a week. …
The incident underscored how Cambodia is battling during the hot season to supply a growing economy with sufficient energy levels and basic amenities. …
“We must guarantee the full water supply because [Preah Sihanouk province] is one of our biggest economic development poles,” he [Prime Minister Hun Sen] said. “It has many different sectors including industries, service and it has an [international] harbor.
Mr. Hun Sen added that before Prek Tup Lake dried up, he had told provincial governor Sboang Sarath to put Kbal Chhay online to prepare for such an event. He also said he had informed [Anco Water Supply Co.Ltd.] “a long time ago” about extending their pipelines to Kbal Chhay. …
“The lack of water came from the hot season and the water could only supply about 10,000 people, but now we have 60,000 people and there are a larger amounts of hotels rooms-up to 4,000 rooms compared to only 1,000 in the past few years,” Mr. Sarath said.
The volume of cargo passing through the Sihanoukville Autonomous Port (SAP) rose 15 per cent in the first quarter of this year compared with the corresponding period last year. Experts say milled-rice exports and fuel imports contributed to the boost in activity.
From January to March, SAP, Cambodia’s largest port, processed a total of 759,897 tonnes, compared with 659,489 tonnes in the first three months of last year. …
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. …
Cambodia’s waterways are significantly under-used for the transport of commodities such as rice, and enhanced infrastructure and a review of government fees is needed at the Kingdom’s ports to make exports more competitive, industry experts say.
According to figures from the Alliance of Rice Producers and Exporters of Cambodia (ARPEC), Vietnam’s rice millers, located largely on estuaries, primarily use waterways for transport at an average cost of $3 a tonne. By comparison, local rice millers rely on trucking to transport rice, at an average cost of $15 to $17 a tonne. …
Cambodia will earn about $50 million a year from exports of dried cassava to China through Sihanoukville Autonomous Port, Deputy Prime Minister Yim Chhay Ly said Thursday. …
Cambodia’s agricultural exports previously went through Vietnam and Thailand, amounting to between 7,000 and 8,000 tons a year. …
The Taiwanese-owned garment company Grand Twins International (Cambodia) Plc says it intends to list on the Cambodia Securities Exchange (CSX) next month, in a boost for the Kingdom’s nascent stock market.
Phnom Penh Securities (PPS), an underwriter for Grand Twins International (GTI), said yesterday the company would offer 12 million shares at $0.25 a share. …
The government has said it plans to list two other state-owned enterprises, Telecom Cambodia and the Sihanoukville Autonomous Port, some time this year. Officials of both enterprises did not confirm that time frame yesterday.
PPS said that as of June last year, GTI’s total assets and total capital were about $31.6 million and $27.7 million, respectively. GTI is incorporated as a 100 per cent Taiwanese company. …
Phnom Penh Water Supply Authority’s price was unchanged at 6,200 riel yesterday, with 854 shares changing hands, according to data of the CSX.
GTI’s sales increased about 17 per cent, from $21.86 million to $25.56 million, between mid-2011 and mid-2012. …
Despite the inaugural train traveling between Phnom Penh and Sihanoukville by a new rail link a month ago, no goods have yet been transported between the capital and the country’s largest port.
Toll Royal Railways, a joint venture between Australia’s Toll Group and local conglomerate Royal Group, which holds a concession to run train services in Cambodia, said at the time that the first train on December 28 marked the “commencement of train services.” …
The amount of air cargo entering and leaving Phnom Penh increased by almost 40 percent last year, and nearly 100,000 more business travelers to the capital were recorded during the first 11 months of last year compared to the same period in 2011, data from the government and the country’s airport operator show.
Economists said the jump in air cargo was an indicator of how Cambodia’s economy is beginning to diversify its industrial base, and that more business visitors demonstrated an increasing amount of interest from foreign investors in the country. …
Cambodia’s Securities Exchange (CSX) may have its first private company listing early next year with Grand Twin International, a Taiwanese-owned garment factory, submitting its letters of intention to the Securities Exchange and Commission of Cambodia (SECC).
Industry representatives and government officials believe the listing will be a much-needed boost to the momentum of Cambodia’s recently established bourse, which has only one stock listed since its April opening. …
Cambodia’s stock market is set for a revival early next year when initial public offerings are expected by at least four local companies, ending a drought for a bourse that has hosted just one listing since its trading debut in April.
State-owned Telecom Cambodia and Sihanoukville Autonomous Port are likely to list by June, while two private garment manufacturers are preparing for first-quarter IPOs, Cambodia Securities Exchange Chief Executive Hong Sok Hour said in an interview Monday. …
With cargo traffic at the Phnom Penh Autonomus Port growing rapidly, a nearly completed container terminal just south of the city on the Mekon River should help ease the congestion.
The 30-hectare port, in Kandal province’s Kein Svay district, was completed late last month, though cranes have yet to be installed, and will be inaugurated in December, according to Hei Bavy, director general of the Phnom Penh port, which will operate the new terminal. …
He said that the new port would initially be able to handle 120,000 containers a year to start and would increase to 300,000 containers by 2015. …
Chan Sophal, president of the Cambodian Economic Association, said the Phnom Penh port has also become a cheaper option for exporters of goods such as milled rice and garments than shipping through the Sihanoukville Autonomous Port, which can only handle smaller ships that usually have to transfer their goods onto larger vessels for longer trips. …
Following a government push for Cambodia’s largest state-owned firms to list on the Cambodia Securities Exchange, Phnom Penh Autonomous Port (PPAP) said yesterday that it plans to float on the newly launched bourse.
The port would join Telecom Cambodia and Sihanoukville Autonomous Port, both of which are targeting initial public offerings but have yet to announce official dates. Phnom Penh Water Supply Authority listed in April after months of delays and is still the only publicly traded firm in the country.
Several private companies have also expressed interest in listing during the past three months. …
Less than two months after opening a $60 million brewery on the outskirts of Phnom Penh, Cambodia Beer will be exported for the first time today when vessels carrying the beer set out for Japan from Sihanoukville Autonomous Port, according to a statement issued yesterday by its owner Chip Mong Group. …
Revenues generated at the Sihanoukville Autonomous Port increased 13.6 percent to $14 million in the first five months of 2012, compared to the same period last year, a port official said yesterday.
Lou Kimchhun, director-general of the port, said that revenues came from a 9 percent increase in the number of containers coming through the port to 99,300. …
Revenue at Sihanoukville Autonomous Port increased 13.6 per cent year on year between January and June, port officials confirmed yesterday.
As the state-owned enterprise gears up for listing on the Cambodia Securities Exchange, the neighbouring Sihanoukville Special Economic Zone will play an increasingly important role in boosting throughput, insiders said. …
Two foreign-owned garment manufacturers will submit disclosure documents to Cambodia’s capital market regulator next month, the companies’ underwriter Phnom Penh Securities Firm Plc. said yesterday.
The initial public offerings for the two private companies, expected by the end of the year, should boost action on the Cambodia Securities Exchange. Submission preparation for QMI International and TY Fashion, both Taiwanese companies, was “99 per cent complete”, Phnom Penh Securities chief executive Stephen Hsu said.
“All the financial reports are finished. We will be ready to submit the disclosure documents to the [Securities and Exchange Commission of Cambodia] next month,” he said by phone.
Listing dates for the remaining state-owned firms were unclear yesterday. Telecom Cambodia has not designated a specific date, but insiders said the firm is expected to list in January. Sihanoukville Autonomous Port earlier this year announced a July listing date, but officials yesterday said the deadline was unrealistic.
An official at the Sihanoukville Autonomous Port yesterday said the state-owned firm would miss its target of registering with the Securities and Exchange Commission of Cambodia (SECC) next month, a key step before listing on the country’s nascent bourse. …
Ho Hongsik, director of SBI Royal Securities, the firm preparing the port’s initial public offering, said he would not comment on the timing of the registration because the issue was too sensitive. …
The Sihanoukville Autonomous Port was making every effort to speed up preparations for its listing on the Cambodia Securities Exchange, the port’s chief executive officer, Lou Kim Chhun, said this week. …
The company would list 15% of it’s stock to begin with, and would ‘study the situation carefully’ before issuing anymore, Lou said. …
About 60% of Cambodia’s exports and imports pass through the port, with the remaining 40% arriving or departing from Phnom Penh or other private ports, Lou said. The main competition to Sihanoukville port come from Vietnamese ports, he said. …
