Cambodian Economy Reviews » international trade http://khmerian.com Thu, 15 Jul 2010 09:23:08 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 Prices of dry rubber in Cambodia increase http://khmerian.com/2010/07/prices-of-dry-rubber-in-cambodia-increase/ http://khmerian.com/2010/07/prices-of-dry-rubber-in-cambodia-increase/#comments Tue, 06 Jul 2010 16:59:37 +0000 Cambodia Economy http://khmerian.com/?p=989 While the price of dry rubbers spikes in global market, classified as grade 1 of 10 costing USD3,687.50 per tonne last week but Cambodia’s rubber companies missed out on the benefits from it because mostly Cambodia had exported exclusively to Vietnam.

According to the Malaysian Rubber’s figure, the price of rubbers classified as grade 1 worth USD3,687.50 per tonne, grade 10 rubber reached USD2,868 per tonne last week.

The Cambodia Import, Export, Inspection and Fraud Repression Department- CamControl released official statistics by showing that during the first five months of this year, Cambodian rubber exports were down more than 34 percent in comparison with the same period of 2009.

The amount of rubbers exported dropped during the first five months because of harsh weather for reducing production.

At the present, there are 14 Vietnamese companies planting rubbers in Mondulkiri, Ratanakiri, Kampong Thom, Kratie and Preah Vihear provinces where they received 100,000 hectares in land concessions from Cambodia’s government in September 2009 because Cambodia wants to raise the rubber production to 150,000 hectares by 2015.

Vietnamese companies planted rubber on 10,000 hectares of land in Cambodia last year and planed to add 20,000 more by the end of 2010, some 30,000 hectares in 2011 and 40,000 hectares in 2012, according to the memorandum.

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]]> http://khmerian.com/2010/07/prices-of-dry-rubber-in-cambodia-increase/feed/ 0 Bilateral trade between Cambodia and Singapore rose 84 percent http://khmerian.com/2010/06/bilateral-trade-between-cambodia-and-singapore-rose-84-percent/ http://khmerian.com/2010/06/bilateral-trade-between-cambodia-and-singapore-rose-84-percent/#comments Thu, 03 Jun 2010 14:33:32 +0000 Cambodia Economy http://khmerian.com/?p=972 Chan Nora Ministry of Commerce Secretary of State Ministry of Commerce said on Monday that the international trade between Cambodia and Singapore rose 84 percent in 2009, driven by exports of sand from Cambodia to Singapore and later the government imposed ban on sand dredging for export May last year.

According to the figure from the ministry of commerce, bilateral trade between Cambodia and Singapore was up from US$640.4 million to US$1.8 billion in 2009.

By the way, Singapore’s exports to Cambodia increased 41 percent from $523.95 million to $740.9 million, while Cambodia’s exports to Singapore shot up 275 percent to $438.2 million from $117 million.

“I think the growth of our exports to Singapore last year was probably because of the export of sand,” Chan Nora was quoted by the Post as saying.

According to Ministry of Commerce, Singapore’s main exports to the Kingdom last year included unwrought gold, diesel, petrol, alcohol, non-industrial diamonds and electronic goods, while Cambodia’s main exports were natural sand, semi-manufactured and unwrought gold, cigarettes, silk, silica and quartz sand, and woven materials, including clothes.

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]]> http://khmerian.com/2010/06/bilateral-trade-between-cambodia-and-singapore-rose-84-percent/feed/ 0 Russian trade increased 30pc http://khmerian.com/2009/12/russian-trade-increased-30pc/ http://khmerian.com/2009/12/russian-trade-increased-30pc/#comments Wed, 23 Dec 2009 05:51:05 +0000 Cambodia Economy http://khmerian.com/?p=900 Since the bilateral trade between Cambodian and Russia increased 30 percent, even though the Russian investment in Cambodia is estimated to be lower this year, compared to the last year.

Dilyara Borovik, a counselor at the Russian Embassy, gave a speech at the an event to mark the 30th anniversary of the Russian Cultural Center in Phnom Penh that the trade between the two countries for the first nine months of this year totaled US$32.3 million, a 28.7 percent increase over the same period last year, quoted by the Cambodia Daily as saying.

Ms. Borovik added that Cambodian exports to Russia make up 60 percent of trade between the two countries, with garments, agricultural products and seafood being the largest exported products.

In 2008, investment totaled US$600 million with businesses such as the Beeline mobile phone, said she.

“With the economic crisis this year, people are afraid to invest abroad especially if we don’t know the situation in our own country,” Ms. Borovik said.

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]]> http://khmerian.com/2009/12/russian-trade-increased-30pc/feed/ 0 Cambodia-Vietnam Trade dropped 28 pc http://khmerian.com/2009/12/cambodia-vietnam-trade-dropped-28-pc/ http://khmerian.com/2009/12/cambodia-vietnam-trade-dropped-28-pc/#comments Mon, 21 Dec 2009 07:31:00 +0000 Cambodia Economy http://khmerian.com/?p=885 Within the month of October of 2009, the bilateral trade between Cambodia and Vietnam declined by 28 percent, compared to the same time last year, According to Le Bien Cuong, the Commercial Attaché at the Vietnamese Embassy to the media.

The latest figures reveal the trades between Cambodia and Vietnam this year, totaling US$1.049 billion with Vietnam exporting US$907 million in goods while Cambodia’s exports total $142 million, Le Bien Cuong was quoted by the Cambodia Daily as saying.

Cham Prasidh, Minister of Commerce, predicted earlier this year that the bilateral trade between the both countries would reach US$2 billion by 2010.

The bilateral trade between the both countries increased from US$935 million in 2006 to US$1.193 billion in 2007 and to US$1.64 billion in 2008.

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]]> http://khmerian.com/2009/12/cambodia-vietnam-trade-dropped-28-pc/feed/ 0 Decline in rubber export hit by financial crisis http://khmerian.com/2009/05/decline-in-rubber-export-hit-by-financial-crisis/ http://khmerian.com/2009/05/decline-in-rubber-export-hit-by-financial-crisis/#comments Mon, 18 May 2009 01:14:28 +0000 Cambodia Economy http://khmerian.com/?p=480 Since 2007, the global financial crisis has affected the international trade, and cooled down car sales. In addition, the impact of financial crisis also hit hardly the decrease in the demand for tyres and also affected the Cambodia’s rubber production exports to international markets.

According to the Cambodia Economic Watch, the rubber sector is expected to post a negative 2.6 percent growth rate in 2008 because old growth rubber trees have been replaced either by new trees that are still too young to produce raw rubber or other crops. Rubber growth is thus expected to remain flat in coming years.

Due to the effect of the world economic slowdown, the price of dry rubber has declined to US$ 1,300 per ton in the international market and US$ 1,200 per ton in the domestic market, but the price of bottom line for Cambodian rubber planters was US$ 700 per ton.

According to the official figure, Cambodia has 110,000 hectares of land to plant rubber trees. And the number is expected to increase up to 150,000 hectares in 2015.

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]]> http://khmerian.com/2009/05/decline-in-rubber-export-hit-by-financial-crisis/feed/ 0 US$12.6 million trade development program launched http://khmerian.com/2009/03/us126-million-trade-development-program-launched/ http://khmerian.com/2009/03/us126-million-trade-development-program-launched/#comments Tue, 24 Mar 2009 09:21:42 +0000 Cambodia Economy http://khmerian.com/?p=353 Aiming at diversifying and expanding Cambodia’s international trade, the ministry of commerce, and four development partners launched a $12.6 million Trade Development Support Program (TDSP) which is also supported by the European Union, the Danish International Aid Agency and the UN Industrial Development program.

The program implementation will not only involve coordination between government ministries but will involve regular checks by the private sector in Cambodia. And all money will be used to tackle priority issues in diversifying the economy.

There are four components to the project:

  • The first component of the project is trade policy formulation and implementation. This component will support the Government’s trade strategy, in particular: (i) technical barriers to trade and sanitary and photo-sanitary measures; (ii) trade facilitation; and (iii) other legal reforms and World Trade Organization obligations.
  • The second component of the project is performance monitoring. This component will support to surveys and monitoring tools to assess progress in implementing the Government’s trade strategy and provide evidenced-based feedback.
  • The third component of the project is institutional and human capacity. This component will support to the development of strengthened institutions, stronger incentives, and improved technical ability to formulate and implement the Government’s trade policy.
  • The fourth component of the project is implementation support to TDSP. This component will support the development of the Ministry of Commerce’s implementation capacity to act as a Secretariat for the trade sector wide approach (SWAp) and program manager for the TDSP. This will include support to assist it in meeting its fiduciary responsibilities. This will also support other departments’ and agencies’ capacity in implementing the TDSP.

Cham Prasith, the ministry of commerce, said that this finance will be used to promote Cambodia’s trade sector, based on the small project and he added that what is important is that the money will be spent on the priority issues identified by the government. And the project will be based on three pillars- solving cross-cutting issues; promoting of export production and a focus on services; and improving institutional capacity.

During the workshop, World Bank Country Qimiao Fan said that in the present, Cambodia’s weak export controls and tough international export regulations required by developed nations are acting as a burden on Cambodia’s growth rate, he added that “one of the priorities that we have discussed with the government is the contribution that regulatory reform can make to the business climate, reported the Cambodia Daily.

Qimiao was quoted by the Phnom Penh Post as saying that “I believe that we can and should make some quick wins by building on progress that has been made in several areas,” he added that “First, the government should further strengthen Cambodia’s regional integration with its close neighbours and ASEAN partners, and second, it should promote higher productivity and greater diversification in agriculture.”

In a bid to strengthen the economy and to boost exports to access the international market, the World Bank funded “Export Market Access Fund (EMAF)” US$ 1.6 million in grant, which is run by the ministry of commerce, in an attempt to help Cambodia-based companies and business associations over the 16 months.

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]]> http://khmerian.com/2009/03/us126-million-trade-development-program-launched/feed/ 0 Low garment sales, poor tourism to hit Cambodia-IMF http://khmerian.com/2009/03/low-garment-sales-poor-tourism-to-hit-cambodia-imf/ http://khmerian.com/2009/03/low-garment-sales-poor-tourism-to-hit-cambodia-imf/#comments Sat, 07 Mar 2009 07:51:54 +0000 Cambodia Economy http://khmerian.com/?p=271 PHNOM PENH, March 6 (Reuters) – A slowdown in garment exports and a drop in the number of tourists could cause Cambodia’s economy to shrink 0.5 percent this year, the International Monetary Fund said on Friday.

That is a big turnaround from the 4.8 percent growth the IMF had forecast in November.

“Garment exports are under pressure due to sharply lower retail demand in the United States and European Union,” it said in a statement after an IMF team ended a mission to the Southeast Asian country. Garments are Cambodia’s biggest export earner.

Construction activity and foreign investment were also slow as external investors cut back, the IMF said said.

The World Bank projected foreign direct investment of around $800 million in 2008 and has said it could fall “probably to below $600 million” in 2009. (Reporting by Ek Madra; Editing by Alan Raybould)

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]]> http://khmerian.com/2009/03/low-garment-sales-poor-tourism-to-hit-cambodia-imf/feed/ 0 Deficit a risky business during global crisis http://khmerian.com/2009/03/deficit-a-risky-business-during-global-crisis/ http://khmerian.com/2009/03/deficit-a-risky-business-during-global-crisis/#comments Wed, 04 Mar 2009 09:27:10 +0000 Cambodia Economy http://khmerian.com/?p=251 Asian leaders maintain that the region is in better shape than other areas of the world. Do you believe that Asia will escape the worst effects of the crisis?
Asia has two major problems – current accounts deficits are rising and trade is in decline…. Over the next six months or so, countries with current accounts deficits will run into problems…. The second issue is trade. Trade is falling quickly, and Asia has a high percentage of exports to GDP – with Western demand falling, this is going to hit Asian countries hard.

The National Bank of Cambodia said the current accounts deficit may rise from 11.2 percent of GDP in 2008 to 12.1 percent in 2009.  Should that raise concerns?
That rings bells, and it shows that this is not a regional problem – it is a problem within certain pockets in Asia. Most Asian countries have [current accounts] surpluses and large foreign exchange reserves, so they are not as vulnerable to the problems that were seen during the Asian crisis. But there are some specific spots that are exposed, and Cambodia is one of them. Cambodia will find it very difficult to fund these kinds of deficits with private sector capital flows.

[Investment] has been buoyant in recent years but this year it is disappearing very fast. Neighbouring Vietnam had similar problems…. It’s worrying, especially with the Cambodian central bank coming out with those figures … and it might require an eventual IMF bailout.

What are the options available to Cambodia?
Depending on the scale of the foreign-debt buildup, one of the options is to be discussing this with the IMF – a number of countries are already taking pre-emptive action in talking to the IMF about assistance, possibly the same with the World Bank, to try to be able to tide over these capital flows.

Other policies to be considered would cut back the import bill because you very rapidly need to reduce the trade deficit, so the government may have to impose some kind of trade restrictions, unpopular even if they are.

Cambodia has run a current accounts deficit for years. Why is it only a problem now?
Because if you have a deficit, you have to have a counterpart to pay for it, so you have to have capital inflows that cover this, otherwise the country runs out of foreign exchange reserves. And you have a balance of payments crisis. In recent years, there have been very buoyant capital flows, and investment coming into emerging economies. But unfortunately with this crisis, many of these flows have not just disappeared, but they have actually reversed. In this case, it will be very difficult to get those flows to match continuing trade and current accounts deficits. So the implications are quite severe.

How long can Cambodia hold on before it needs an IMF bailout?
If you look at the foreign exchange reserves, you can see how many months of cover the country has.
I think most countries aim to have something like five or six months of cover to protect themselves, but if you start to run this down, you face an escalating problem of confidence in your economy.

The central banks need to be very attentive to how much reserves they have, and not just to use up these reserves but they need to take pre-emptive measures before they get down to two or three months.

Economist Niall Ferguson predicted that Asian economies could fare worse than the US. How do you respond to that?
Well, there are pockets in Asia that  will have to be extremely careful – Singapore is already announcing a very big loss of GDP and there are some very serious problems in northeast Asia with Taiwan, Korea and Japan likely to be far worse than the US. And, of course, there are pockets like Cambodia and Vietnam that may not be able to resist the financial problems, as well as the trade problems. In that sense, it’s quite possible, and quite ironic, that the crisis originated in the US, but may hit hardest in other regions.

I think that many people realise that this wasn’t just a US financial problem, there are genuinely difficulties with the debt situation that has built up in other areas of the world. Its not the housing market that’s the biggest problem in Cambodia, but certainly this buildup of external debt and a dependence on capital flows is a huge risk.

(The original article is extracted from The Phnom Penh Post)

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]]> http://khmerian.com/2009/03/deficit-a-risky-business-during-global-crisis/feed/ 0 US$11 million cement plant to move ahead http://khmerian.com/2009/02/us11-million-cement-plant-to-move-ahead/ http://khmerian.com/2009/02/us11-million-cement-plant-to-move-ahead/#comments Thu, 26 Feb 2009 09:03:47 +0000 Cambodia Economy http://khmerian.com/?p=230 Cambodia’s largest construction company, Khaou Chuly Group (KP Group), says it is to go ahead with a ready-mixed concrete and tile factory, despite falling local cement demand.

Construction was delayed from the last quarter of 2008 due to the economic slowdown.

“The plant will be ready in August. The total investment is US$11 million including land, buildings, machinery and heavy vehicles,” said Khaou Phallaboth, president of Khaou Chuly Group.

The plant is to be located on a two-hectare plot near the Northbridge School in Phnom Penh’s Russey Keo district.

The company said the plant will manufacture cement and roof tiles, with construction set to commence next month.

Demand for building materials has taken a hit from the construction slump, and the country’s largest cement maker, Kampot Cement, said Tuesday it was cutting output in two  10-percent phases. But KP says it is banking on a recovery.

“We are optimistic that the economy will start to recover at the end of this year – but not a full recovery, of course,” he said. He added that the new plant will generate about 100 jobs, with capacity of 150,000 tonnes of ready-mixed concrete per year and 50,000 units of concrete roof tiles per day.

Ith Praing, a secretary of state at the Ministry of Industry, Mines and Energy, welcomed the investment project.

“It shows the evolution of the construction sector, even though there is a real estate downturn,” he said.

Sat Phearum, management assistant to Grand Industrial, which has produced ready-mixed concrete since 1996, said that the local market is large enough for new players.

“Our company is not concerned about the new investment by the Khaou Chuly Group because we have many years’ experience.”

However, he said that demand for ready-mixed concrete has declined by 50-percent since the slowdown started in June 2008.

(The original article is extracted from The Phnom Penh Post)

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]]> http://khmerian.com/2009/02/us11-million-cement-plant-to-move-ahead/feed/ 0 Asean trade hits $2bn http://khmerian.com/2009/02/asean-trade-hits-2bn/ http://khmerian.com/2009/02/asean-trade-hits-2bn/#comments Tue, 24 Feb 2009 10:39:23 +0000 Cambodia Economy http://khmerian.com/?p=201 CAMBODIA’S trade with Asean increased by 23 percent in 2008 to US$2.189 billion up from $1.775 billion the previous year, according to official figures, as the Kingdom’s trade deficit with its neighbours expanded close to $2 billion.

Thon Virak, deputy director general of the Directorate General of International Trade at the Ministry of Commerce, told the Post on Monday that the rise in trade volume was mostly in imports of raw materials for the garment sector and steel, while agricultural produce exports increased, especially with neighbouring Thailand and Vietnam.

“I think trade between Cambodia and Asean will be strong because these nations are producing more all the time for export,” he said. “Cambodia’s production capacity is stronger this year, and Cambodia’s products are more widely recognised in Asean.”

Though trade has increased sharply, Cambodia still has a large trade deficit with the other nine Asean nations – exports increased by only two percent, while imports were up 25 percent. Imports from Asean in 2008 amounted to $2.067 billion, while exports were just $121 million, according to the Ministry of Commerce, giving a yearly trade deficit of $1.946 billion, with the bloc up from $1.536 billion in 2007.

Chan Sophal, president of Cambodian Economic Association, dismissed concerns over the ballooning trade deficit with Asean, claiming that high garment exports to the West counterbalanced the shortfall.

In terms of boosting trade, traditional export sectors remain the key, he said – agricultural products, garments and tourism – although he added that “trade with Asean won’t increase this year because … of the financial meltdown”.

Em Sovannara, head of the international politics section at the International Relations Institute of Cambodia, said on Monday that the trade deficit with Asean had to be addressed “by banning the import of particular products which can be locally produced”.

He added: “I think if the government allows the import of more products that can be produced in our country, startup manufacturing will go bust because they [companies] are not encouraged to produce.”

(The original article is extracted from The Phnom Penh Post)

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