Cambodian International Trade News

[mrfusion]

for coming november.


$399 + tax: $98.46

total: $498.46.

What are you checking?

Ps: the link you post doesn't work, the link doesn't work except your PC, and only for half an hour or so.

[Asian]

Originally Posted by mrfusion

Ok, I don't have such experience, anyway, Cathay do have better reputation then many other airlines.



樹大有枯枝，(There's a black sheep in every flock.)

I hope you find better alternative from NA.



So what happen to you, if your ticket is confirmed, but they won't let you on the fight, how did they compensated you.



Strange the flight crew I have in the HK<>PP flight are always very friendly.

What they did? They were to put me on the next flight even I had paid for advance seat selection. I insisted and made my voice heard so that the flight were delayed. So, what they did was asking someone seating in the back if he/she want to wait for the next flight by accepting a rain check. So, I got on at last. Now, I feel that I should have had negotiated for the rain check instead because it was worth $300 (free next trip). But, I was in a rush with tight schedule.

By the way, for the "thank you" stuff, it is not the flight crew, but the people on the ground in Honk Kong at the ticket counter and check in counter.

Also, Dragon Air, even it is a sub. of Cathay, it has lower level of standard of services because its flies regionally.

[Asian]

Originally Posted by AsianDragons

why you guys use dragonair the price is so high, last time i checked they sold tickets from hk-pp for $500 one way in november, if you from NA then i think Korean is cheaper if from europe or australia malaysia or singapore is still cheaper most of the time

I know that too. But, I am a one-world member. I fly one-world airlines so that I get points that I can use to fly short-haul for free sometimes. Cathay and Dragon air are members of the group and it is the only member that flies into PP. Hope JAL will fly there soon.

[mrfusion]

Originally Posted by Asian

What they did? They were to put me on the next flight even I had paid for advance seat selection. I insisted and made my voice heard so that the flight were delayed. So, what they did was asking someone seating in the back if he/she want to wait for the next flight by accepting a rain check. So, I got on at last. Now, I feel that I should have had negotiated for the rain check instead because it was worth $300 (free next trip). But, I was in a rush with tight schedule.

Is this only once, or happen quite common to you? the next flight means the next day, so they will have to cover hotel expenses as well.

I just found out overbooking is common practice in airline industry, I might be lucky as it never affected me.

http://www.independenttraveler.com/t...nd-overbooking

By the way, for the "thank you" stuff, it is not the flight crew, but the people on the ground in Honk Kong at the ticket counter and check in counter.

oh yes, some cathay ground crew pissed me off in Sydney.

[Asian]

Originally Posted by mrfusion

Is this only once, or happen quite common to you? the next flight means the next day, so they will have to cover hotel expenses as well.

I just found out overbooking is common practice in airline industry, I might be lucky as it never affected me.

http://www.independenttraveler.com/t...nd-overbooking




oh yes, some cathay ground crew pissed me off in Sydney.

It has happened to me a few time, but on different airlines. Next flight means the one in the late afternoon that I was talking about that Dragon Air flying daily to PP in some high seasons. If you travel lots, the chance is you may run into one.

[mrfusion]

Originally Posted by Asian

It has happened to me a few time, but on different airlines. Next flight means the one in the late afternoon that I was talking about that Dragon Air flying daily to PP in some high seasons. If you travel lots, the chance is you may run into one.

I don't travel a lot, but I have just experience what you said, my company has arrange a trip with a number of special people to HK/Macau, and due to come back this evening, the tour guide didn't get to come back, my understanding is he/she will transit in BKK then back to PP late tonight.

[Asian]

Originally Posted by mrfusion

I don't travel a lot, but I have just experience what you said, my company has arrange a trip with a number of special people to HK/Macau, and due to come back this evening, the tour guide didn't get to come back, my understanding is he/she will transit in BKK then back to PP late tonight.

Is that right? Dragon Air again? Something should be done about the overbooking with this airline.

[mrfusion]

Originally Posted by Asian

Is that right? Dragon Air again? Something should be done about the overbooking with this airline.

If I were there last evening, I will volunteer to stay back (instead of transit in BKK) and come back today, US$400 compensation, sweet.

Not much you can do about it, it is actually a common practice in the airline industry. The problem is bad last night as it is the last day of a long weekend.

[kimmy]

China quick to act on trade promise

An across-the-board trade and investment deal signed with China’s Yunnan province on Friday was a jump-start to Chinese President Hu Jintao’s pledge a week earlier to double bilateral trade with the Kingdom to US$5 billion by 2017.
The package signing, which brought a delegation of 45 Chinese corporations into the room with about 250 Cambodian businesspeople, included investments in energy, cement, rice milling and agricultural technology, as well as proposed direct flights with China’s south-westernmost province.

Officials declined to put a price tag on the deal on Friday.

Bilateral trade

Increasing bilateral trade by $2.5 billion within five years would require the two countries to step up trade by 25 per cent a year, Minister of Commerce Cham Prasidh said in the statement.

“[The] visit proves that China shows the commitment on promoting trade and economic cooperation between the two countries after both governments agreed to spur bilateral trade to $5 billion by 2017,” he said during a speech at Friday’s signing ceremony.

Industry leaders last week told the Post that the boost to bilateral trade would mean an influx of Chinese products and investment in the one-sided relationship.

Cambodian conglomerate Royal Group of Companies and China’s Huaneng Lancang River Hydropower will build two hydropower dams in Stung Treng province, according to a statement from the Cambodian government.

The companies will hold a 30-year concession to operate the 400-megawatt dams, which were expected to be complete within five years, the statement said.

Royal Group CEO Kith Meng declined to comment on Friday.

Yunnan-bound

Cambodia’s Soma Group and Yunnan Pan-Asia Agriculture Cooperation and Development signed a $100-million deal for milled rice exports, Council of Ministers spokesman Ek Tha said yesterday.

The companies would invest in a rice mill and 200,000 tonnes in rice exports were expected to start at the end of this year, he said.

“This agreement will help us expand our milled-rice market – especially in a market as big as China,” he said.

Soma signed a 20,000-tonne agreement with Yunnan Provincial Overseas Investment in June, the Post reported.

However no direct rice exports to China followed, and officials said a recent trial run failed to pass Chinese inspections.

Other agreements signed on Friday included what would be Cambodia’s biggest cement plant.

Cambodia CCR Co and China’s GCCP Co would build a 1.1 million-tonne per year plant, but the cost and timeframe for the project were not specified.

'Mutual efforts'

Yunnan Governor and delegation leader Li Jiheng also recommended direct flights between the province and Siem Reap.

Business with Yunnan would aid Cambodia in energy and agriculture development, given the province’s experience with hydropower projects and rice farming, he said.

“Such experience meets the growing need of the future of development of Cambodia. I expect that though the mutual efforts, Yunnan and Cambodia could come up with more achievements in sectors of mineral resource, hydropower, tobacco industry as well as key infrastructure construction,” he said.

“I would like to strengthen our economic and trade ties with the priority given to technological cooperation.”

[AsianDragons]

Exports to Korea jump 80pc .

May Kunmakara
Thursday, 10 May 2012 .

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Cambodia's first-quarter exports to South Korea soared nearly 80 per cent year-on-year, driven mostly by garments and agriculture products, but imports still accounted for most of the trade between the two countries.

Total exports to South Korea jumped to US$30 million for the first three months of 2012, up 76 per cent from $17 million in the year-ago period, according to data from the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) in Phnom Penh.

At the same time, Korean imports reached $130 million from $101 million, a 29 per cent year-on-year gain, KOTRA said.

Total trade between the two countries in the quarter rose 36 per cent to $159.9 million compared to $117.3 million last year.

“We got increases in the garment industry, with around 20 new garment factories from Korea opening in the last year,” KOTRA manager Kim Dohyun said. “That’s the main reason for the export increase.”

Garments and footwear exports were up 204 per cent to $4.9 million for the period, according to KOTRA.

More Korean investors are eyeing Cambodia as rising labour costs make China and Vietnam less attractive destinations for garment enterprises, he said.

While there have been wage increases in the Kingdom as well, they have not outpaced other countries in the region.

Korea Chamber of Commerce in Cambodia chairman Kang Nam-shik agreed, saying there has been a rush of garment factories to Cambodia over the past six months.

“Cambodia is still attractive for both its labour quality and wages to Korean investors,” he said.

KOTRA’s Kim Dohyun noted that the Kingdom’s resurgent economy and a free-trade agreement between the two countries helped to drive the numbers.

“Cambodia’s economy is growing, and people have money to spend,” he said, adding that the FTA had streamlined the trade relationship.

The Kingdom’s agricultural products also played a role in the growth in trade between the two countries, though these products, such as milled rice and cassava, were just starting to find a market in Korea, Kim Dohyun said.

The Kingdom, meanwhile, imported raw materials for its garment and textile industry, vehicles and foodstuffs, according to KOTRA.

Kim Dohyun did say that the recurring factory strikes could weigh on the industry by scaring away investors.

“If workers are still on strike, maybe it can cause some problems for investors, making them more interested in Myanmar,” he said.

International Monetary Fund deputy managing director Naoyuki Shinohara told the Post last month that the opening up of Myanmar’s political and economic systems would put the company in better position to compete with Cambodia for investment.

“Myanmar could provide a very good base for the garment industry,” he said.

http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.p...jump-80pc.html

[AsianDragons]

Trade with Vietnam increases .

Monday, 09 July 2012 Abe Becker.

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A pledge in mid-June by Cambodia and Vietnam to increase bilateral trade by more than US$2.5 billion by 2015 may lead to decreased trade with Thailand, market analysts have said.

The pledge made by Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and his Vietnamese counterpart Nguyen Tan Dung for $5 billion in total trade between the two nations reflected a similar Sino-Cambodian trade goal set in early April.

Cambodian exports to Vietnam increased more than 57 per cent in the first quarter this year compared to last year, as farmers looked for alternative destinations for products that went to Thailand last year.

The Kingdom’s exports to Vietnam, being primarily agricultural, were worth $201.5 million, up from $127.7 million, between January and March last year, according to data from the Vietnam Trade Office.

Decreasing orders from Thailand this year drove Cambodian farmers to look for new markets, many of which were found in Vietnam, said Chan Nora, Secretary of State at the Ministry of Commerce.

Thai restrictions on Cambodian products such as cassava were also reported this year. Instability in the Cambodian market was caused by the shift to Vietnam, but new trade deals with China are expected to combat the instability, Chan Nora said.

Cambodia’s main exports to Vietnam were seafood, corn, tobacco and rubber.

Cambodia has a very high export potential for Vietnam, but “we must understand consumers’ taste and produce suitable products”, Kao Sieu Luc, general director of Vietnam-owned ABC Bakery, said.

ABC Bakery’s revenue increased more than 40 per cent year-on-year he said.

ABC Bakery plans to build an industrial bakery in Cambodia.

http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.p...increases.html

[mrfusion]

I like ABC bakery, A new branch should open in Kampuchea Krom soon.

What does it mean to be a industrial bakery?

[AsianDragons]

Malaysia-Cambodia trade increases .
Monday, 24 September 2012May Kunmakara..Products made in Malaysia on display during a three-day Malaysia Travel and Shopping Fair at Phnom Penh's City Mall. Photograph: Heng Chivoan/Phnom Penh PostMore than 24,000 Cambodians visited Malaysia during the first half of 2012, while Malaysian arrivals to Cambodia numbered 54,000, an increase of 11.1 per cent compared with the same period in 2011.

That's why Malaysia's ambassador to Cambodia says he is optimistic that trade and tourism between the two ASEAN nations will gather pace in the future.

Ambassador Hussein's remarks came during the the first three-day Malaysia Travel and Shopping Fair at City Mall in Phnom Penh. He said the number of tourist and business links between Cambodia and Malaysia were on the rise and he expected the fair, which ended yesterday, to be an important means of increasing economic relations between the two ASEAN member states.

"This Malaysia Travel and Shopping Fair will promote Malaysia as the first holiday shopping and tourist destination to Cambodians and will enhance business between our two ASEAN countries," he said.

"The event is held for the first time in Phnom Penh and I understand it is the first time in Cambodia as well,” he said. “More than 20 promoters from Malaysia will offer them tourism packages," he added.

Ambassador Hussein said that with a 73.8 per cent share of total arrivals, ASEAN countries were still the largest tourism contributors to Malaysia.

"Business from Cambodia to Malaysia and Malaysia to Cambodia is quite big now," he said, adding that an increasing number of flights were serving the route between Kuala Lumpur and Phnom Penh.

During the official launch of the 2012-2020 Tourism Strategic Plan last Thursday, Prime Minister Hun Sen urged the Cambodian tourism minister to promote and attract more tourists among ASEAN member states and the ASEAN plus 3 group.

The Premier also encouraged the attraction of more low-cost airlines to the Kingdom in order to give ASEAN people better chances to visit Cambodia.

Data from the Ministry of Tourism shows the ASEAN countries as having a 41.3 per cent share, or 712,380 tourists arrivals out of the Cambodia's total foreign tourist arrivals.

Hussein hopes the fair will provide more opportunities for the two countries to seek and exchange views. "I see more progress of business from Cambodia to Malaysia and from Malaysia to Cambodia in the near future,” he said.

“I hope this three-day-event will not only promote and bring awareness of Malaysian products but also will make Cambodian friends to be aware of medical and health facilities as well as services."

Bilateral trade between Cambodia and Malaysia rose to US$319.5 million in 2011, an increase of 34 per cent year-on-year compared to the same period last year, according to data from the Malaysian embassy.


http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.p...increases.html

[AsianDragons]

Shipments of cargo increase by 7.3 per cent
Last Updated on 16 January 2013 By May Kunmakara

A worker drives past containers at Sihanoukville Autonomous Port. Photograph: Heng Chivoan/Phnom Penh Post
Cargo shipments through Sihanoukville’s Deep Sea Port increased more than seven per cent year-on-year in 2012.

Port officials say this growth is a result of Cambodia’s economic performance and an improving global economy.

In 2012, 255,378 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs) were shipped through Sihanoukville, compared with 237,937 in 2011, an increase of 7.3 per cent.

“It is a fast rate of growth compared with previous years. We had growth in all kinds of products,” Chea Sambath, chief of the port’s planning and marketing department, said, adding that Cambodia’s political stability was attracting businesses.

He said most exports through Sihanoukville were garments and agricultural products, especially milled rice.

The main products imported were raw materials, vehicles, pharmaceutical equipment, medicine and consumer products.

“Last year, exports of milled rice increased a lot – that’s a good sign for the industry,” Sambath said.

“We also experienced an increase in imports, as a lot of raw materials came in.”

Director-General Lim Bunheng said rice miller Loran Import-Export had exported about 20,000 tonnes via the Sihanoukville port last year.

“I always export my products via that port, because we can send them directly to their destination,” Bunheng said. “Big amounts go to Europe, the US, Africa and Asian countries.”

The port is one of three state-owned enterprises planning to list on the Cambodia Securities Exchange this year, but Sambath could not give a time frame for the float.
To contact the reporter on this story: May Kunmakara at kunmakara.may@phnompenhpost.com

http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013011...-per-cent.html

[AsianDragons]

BUSINESS

Cambodia's exports defy global slump
Last Updated on 18 January 2013 By May Kunmakara and Low Wei Xiang

The slowdown in the global economy hasn’t stopped people buying Cambodian products, Kong Putheara, a spokesman for the Ministry of Commerce, says. Photograph: Heng Chivoan/Phnom Penh Post
Cambodia's total exports increased by more than 10 per cent year-on-year in 2012, despite a slowdown in the global economy and the Kingdom’s main traditional export markets, the US and the European Union.

The growth rate, however, is far below the level in 2011.

An International Monetary Fund report released on January 9 warns that the spillover from a deepening euro-zone crisis and severe global financial turbulence could affect Cambodia’s export growth.

Total exports rose by 10.2 per cent to US$5.48 billion last year, compared with $4.97 billion in 2011. The export rate in 2011 was 40 per cent greater than in 2010.

Kong Putheara, a spokesman for the Ministry of Commerce, acknowledged the impact from last year’s slowdown.

“I agree with the effect on our exports to Europe and the US, because they haven’t dealt with their economic difficulties,” Putheara said.

“But there is still demand there for our exports, especially garments. This means the economic slowdown hasn’t stopped people buying our products.”

Chan Sophal, president of the Cambodia Economic Association, echoed Putheara’s sentiments.

“Our export growth has slowed down, but the demand is still there,” Sophal said.

The data shows total exports of garments and textiles rose nine per cent last year to $4.61 billion, from $4.24 bill-ion in 2011.

The total value of agricultural products declined by 4.4 per cent from $422 million to $403 million.

Van Sou Ieng, chairman of the Garment Manufacturers Association of Cambodia, said garment and textile exports were lower than in previous years because of the numerous strikes by garment workers over low wages.

Although the economic crisis in the US and Europe had played a part, “The most damaging (factor) was the ill-egal strikes and negotiation of wages, which make the industry unstable,” Ieng said.

This made the industry’s productivity and costs less competitive, compared with countries such as Bangladesh and India, he said.

The strikers were calling for higher wages before the review period (in 2014), and the stoppages were therefore llegal, causing factories to suffer or even close down, Ieng said.

“We appeal to the government to maintain a balance between democratic elections and sustained growth of the economy... don’t worry about losing votes from the trade unions if they are wrong.”

Meanwhile, to ensure the garment industry continued growing, Ieng said he was trying to increase productivity through personnel training, as well as by introducing new technology.

Putheara also said strikes could contribute to slow growth, but could be resolved in the short term.

On Wednesday, the World Bank projected Cambodia’s gross domestic product would increase by 6.7 per cent.
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013011...bal-slump.html

[AsianDragons]

Originally Posted by AsianDragons

Exports to Malaysia rise
Last Updated on 04 March 2013 By May Kunmakara

Seventy-nine per cent of Malaysia’s imports from Cambodia are agricultural goods such as rice. Photograph: Hong Menea/Phnom Penh Post
Cambodia’s exports of agricultural products to Malaysia rose sharply last year compared to a year earlier, according to a press release from the Malaysian embassy to Cambodia, with milled rice and crude rubber accounting for most of the total.

“For 2012, total imports broke the $100 million mark. A major contributor to this sharp increase was the agriculture sector,” the release says.

Agricultural goods from Cambodia formed 79 per cent of total imports, which reached $101 million compared to $55.5 million the previous year.

Crude rubber was the major component, with a value of $69 million.

The release says that since Cambodia launched its Policy on the Promotion of Paddy Rice Production and Export of Milled Rice in 2010, Malaysia has taken a keen interest in diversifying rice import sources.

Milled-rice imports from Cambodia have consistently increased from $400,000 in 2010 to $9.5 million in 2011 and $24.3 million in 2012.

“Milled rice formed 19 per cent of total imports from Cambodia in 2012 and was the second-biggest import component after crude rubber,” the release says.

“The embassy foresees a positive growth in the milled-rice imports from Cambodia, subject to gradual development in quality and competitive pricing.”

According to data from the single-window secretariat for facilitating milled rice exports, Malaysia ranked top of the listed importers of Cambodian milled rice with nearly 7,000 tonnes of a total 25,726 tonnes shipped in January.

Hean Vanhorn, deputy director-general of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries and director of the single-window secretariat, told the Post last week he had noticed the sharp growth of exports to Malaysia.

In the first month of this year, Mal-aysia ranked at a good position for absorbing Cambodian milled rice, Vanhorn said.

Bilateral trade between the two countries rose more than 17 per cent last year to $376.1 million, compared to $320.5 million a year earlier.

Imports from Malaysia totalled $248.1 million, while exports to Mal-aysia were valued at $128 million, the release says.

http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013030...ysia-rise.html

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