Asean News Gazette

Cambodia exported US$543 million worth of raw cashew nuts in the first quarter of this year, a year-on-year increase of 13 percent, according to a report of the Cashew Nut Association of Cambodia.

The Kingdom exported a total of 424,000 tonnes of the total production of 474,000 tonnes to Vietnam, the source said.

The association’s president Mr. Uon Silot said the commodity’s export increase in value thanks to the growing demand in the international market as some cashew nut producing countries have been affected by unfavorable weather.

‘The commodity price will likely continue to increase due to the El Nino impact on some cashew nut producing countries in Asia and Africa,’ he said.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries, the Kingdom currently has about 700,000 hectares of cashew plantations in 10 provinces.

The Royal Government of Cambodia has launched the National Cashew Policy 2022-2027, a roadmap focusing on three major strategic goals – production, processing, and exports.

Since the policy launched, local processing cashew nut productions have surged from 5 to 10 percent, according to association’s president.

Cambodia is one of the largest cashew nuts producing countries in the world, but only 10 percent of the commodity are processed domestically.

Cashew is among the Kingdom’s potential cash crops in addition to rice, rubber, cassava, palm oil, bananas, mangoes, longans, and pepper.

Cambodia exported 90,153 tonnes of milled rice to international markets in the first two months of 2024, down 7.2 percent from 97,153 tonnes in the same period of 2023, said a report from the Cambodia Rice Federation.

The country earned a total revenue of US$65.4 million from the rice export during the January-February period, a year-on-year decrease of 9.9 percent, it added.

The Kingdom’s rice was shipped to 50 countries and regions around the world by 40 exporters, stated the report.

Exported milled rice varieties included premium aromatic rice, fragrant rice, long grain white rice, parboiled rice, and organic rice.

Cambodia exported 51,333 tonnes of milled rice worth US$38.37 million to the EU market; 18,753 tonnes others to ASEAN members, generating a revenue of US$13.36 million; 11,083 tonnes to China, earning US$6.81 million, and 8,984 tonnes to other destinations, bagging US$6.90 million as revenue, the report pointed out.

The Kingdom also earned US$395 million in revenue from cross-border traded
paddy rice of some 1.37 million tonnes during the two-month period.

In 2023, Cambodia exported more than 656,000 tonnes of milled rice worth US$466 million, marking a three percent growth in volume and 13 percent in value compared with 2022.

The Cambodia Rice Federation has set an ambitious goal to export at least a million tonnes of milled rice by 2025.

Source: Agence Kampuchea Presse

Cambodia’s exports were valued at US$3,895 million in the first two months of this year, a 22.7 percent increase compared to the same period in 2023, pointed out a report of the General Department of Customs and Excise of the Ministry of Economy and Finance.

Cambodia’s top two export destinations were the U.S. and Vietnam, with shipments worth US$1,295 million, up 14.8 percent, and US$801 million, up 63.2 percent, respectively.

Main products Cambodia exported included apparel, footwear, travel goods, bicycles, and a number of agricultural goods such as rice, rubber, cassava, bananas and mangoes.

Cambodia’s international trade volume has grown steadily despite the war crisis, H.E. Penn Sovicheat, Secretary of State and Spokesperson of the Ministry of Commerce said during a press meeting held last week.

‘Despite the war crisis and weakening of the purchasing power, the orders remained high, with the volume of orders remaining unchanged. There was a decline of orders on some items, but an increase on other
items,’ he said.

Garment, footwear and travel goods industry is the largest foreign exchange earner for Cambodia. The sector consists of roughly 1,300 factories and branches, employing about 840,000 workers, mostly female.

At the same time, the Kingdom’s imports rose by 16 percent to US$4,135 million.

Source: Agence Kampuchea Presse

Ministry of Industry, Science, Technology, and Innovation (MISTI) registered 1,406 new small and medium enterprises (SMEs) last year, generating 20,653 jobs for local people.

The new SMEs brought the total registered SMEs up to 44,628 as of 2023, a year-on-year increase of 1.43, an official report showed.

The registered SMEs created a total of 463,966 jobs for Cambodian people, up 2.86 percent from 2022, according to the ministry’s annual report.

Food and beverage processing SMEs accounted for 64.9 percent or 28,966 of the total registered SMEs, followed by steel processing and weaving and garment with 5,493, (12 percent) and 3,527 (7.9 percent), respectively.

To financially support SMEs, the Royal Government has established the SME Bank as a commercial bank with the strategic intent and direction being primarily coherent with the policies set by the government, assuring a reliable and sustainable banking system for all SMEs.

The SME Bank of Cambodia Plc. has so far disbursed more than US$200 million in
loans to at least 2,500 SMEs to help them expand their businesses.

The government considers the SME sector as the backbone of the economy and created stimulus programmes to help the sector, said Samdech Moha Borvor Thipadei Hun Manet, Prime Minister of Cambodia.

‘The foundation of our economy, our economic structure depends on the private sector as the core force. In particular, SMEs are the foundation of our economy,’ Samdech Thipadei Hun Manet said at the closing ceremony of MISTI’s annual meeting held here on Wednesday.

Source: Agence Kampuchea Presse

The Council for the Development of Cambodia (CDC) in January approved 32 new investment projects with a total capital of over US$187 million, according to the council’s press release made public this morning.

All the approved projects are in the industrial sector, the source underlined, adding that they are expected to generate almost 29,000 job opportunities.

The most outstanding projects include the manufacturing of electronics in Samrong district of Takeo province; the motorbike, bicycle and tri-cycle (EV) assembly plant in Kean Svay district of Kandal province; aluminum, steel and copper processing project in Kong Pisei district of Kampong Speu province; and textile and garment factory project in Kampong Seila district of Preah Sihanouk province, the CDC pointed out.

Regarding the investment capital, it continued, over 78 percent is from China, 9.65 percent from Singapore, 5.34 percent from the U.S., 3.55 percent from the Republic of Korea, and 2.73 percent from local sources.

Source: Agence Kampuch
ea Presse

Seventy (70) percent of participating foreign runners will fly from their countries to join the 7th Angkor Ultra Trail in Siem Reap province on Jan. 27.

The update was shared by Senior Minister H.E. Thong Khon, President of the National Olympic Committee of Cambodia (NOCC), in a press conference here in Phnom Penh on Jan. 8.

The Angkor Ultra Trail, which will be organised by NOCC in collaboration with Phoenix Voyage, aims to promote tourism, enhance the local economy, and contribute to Cambodia’s sports development, said H.E. Thong Khon.

The running event was first held in 2016 with only 232 runners, and more and more runners joined the event from year to year, reaching 1,200 (40 percent of whom are women) from 44 countries in 2023.

According to Mr. Edouard George, Director of Phoenix Voyages, as of Jan. 8, some 1,076 runners from 43 countries had signed up for the event.

Most of the registered runners are from Cambodia, France, Vietnam, South Korea, and the United States of America, he added.

There wi
ll be eight disciplines: Ultra-Trail Angkor 100km, Bayon Trail 64km, Marathon Trail 42km, Jungle Trail 32km, Temple Run, Nordic Walk 18km, Walk and Hike 18km, and Elephant Trail 8km.

Source: Agence Kampuchea Presse

Cambodia exported US$22.64 billion worth of goods in 2023, up 1.8 percent from a year ago, a report of the General Department of Customs and Excise showed on Wednesday.

At the same time, the Kingdom’s imports declined by 5 percent to US$24.18 billion, the source pointed out, adding that country’s international trade decreased by 1.9 percent to US$46.82 billion.

China was Cambodia’s biggest trade partner last year, with bilateral trade amount at US$12.26 billion, a year-on-year increase of 5 percent.

The Kingdom’s other main trade partners were the U.S., European Union, Vietnam, and Singapore.

The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement and the bilateral free trade agreements with China and Korea that came into force in 2022 have played an important role in promoting Cambodia-made products and contributed to attracting new foreign investment, said H.E. Penn Sovicheat, Secretary of State and Spokesperson at the Ministry of Commerce.

‘These trade pacts have contributed to the export gr
owth and to attraction of foreign investment to Cambodia to produce for export,’ he said.

RCEP comprises 15 Asia-Pacific countries including 10-member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) – Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam – and their five trading partners, namely China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand.

Cambodia’s main products exported are garments, machinery and electrical equipment, footwear products, leather goods, grain, furniture, rubber, fruits, vegetables, pearls, toys, and textiles.

The garment, footwear and travel goods industry is the largest foreign exchange earner for Cambodia. The sector consists of roughly 1,300 factories and branches, employing approximately 840,000 workers, mostly female.

Source: Agence Kampuchea Presse

Sun Life Investment Management and Trust Corporation (SLIMTC) projects Philippine economic growth to accelerate next year, driven by consumption and ramped up government spending. In a recent interview, SLIMTC president and chief investment officer Michael Enriquez said economic growth will likely hit 5.6 percent this year and accelerate to 6 percent in 2024. “2023 [economic growth projection] is 5.6 percent. This was an upgrade from 4.8 percent because of the third quarter upswing. We all know what happened in the third quarter, everybody was surprised because [the] government accelerated spending,” he said. The Philippine economy grew by 5.9 percent in the third quarter of the year. Government final consumption expenditure, which accelerated to 6.7 percent, was one of the main drivers of growth. For 2024, Enriquez said consumption will still be a main driver. “The one that will bring it higher would be accelerated spending of the government and then higher exports,” he said. “It’s really the government that can boost GDP (gross domestic product). On the capital formation, the private side, we have been noticing slow takeup of loans for obvious reason, [it’s] so expensive to borrow money that’s why, there’s a slowdown on that so the government needs to be the one to take up the slack and I think they’re doing it but I think they should have done it earlier,” he added. Enriquez, meanwhile, forecasts headline inflation to settle at 6 percent this year and slow down to 3.7 percent next year. He said that with inflation easing, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas may start cutting rates starting in the second quarter of 2024. ‘As inflation continues to go down, I think we’re in consensus that starting with [the] second quarter, we may see rate cuts and I think this is also aligned with how the Fed(eral Reserve) is poised to cut rates as well by H2 (second half) of next year,” he added.

Source: Philippines News Agency