Economy and commerce
Rubber price rebound prompts some farmers to restart production
Myanmar rubber farmers and producers battered by months of low prices are enjoying some respite following a recovery in global markets last year. With weak local demand Myanmar’s rubber industry is at the mercy of world markets, and low prices throughout 2015 and much of ...
200,000 university graduates are jobless; who is to blame?
Educators argue that it is unreasonable to blame the education sector for the high number of unemployed university graduates.“This is a misconception. Vietnam now runs a market economy and you must not expect the number of university graduates to be exactly equal to the number ...
Export licenses for Vietnam
The Ministry of Commerce is calling for producers and exporters who have been dealing in dried tobacco leaves and milled rice to apply for licenses to export to Vietnam. Vietnam agreed to waive all duties on 300,000 tons of rice and 3,000 tons of dried tobacco ...
Vientiane targets economic growth of 11 percent
Vientiane authorities are aiming to grow the capital’s economy by 11 percent this year and expect that GDP will increase by 41.6 trillion kip. It is also anticipated that the capital’s residents will have an annual average per capita income of US$5,000. The agriculture and ...
VN sugar production down 13%

Sugar output in the 2015-16 crop was 1.23 million tonnes, a year-on-year drop of 12.7 percent, said Phạm Quốc Doanh, Chairman of the Việt Nam Sugarcane and Sugar Association, at a seminar in HCM City last week of sugar producers, distributors and consumers. Together with 185,000 ...
Laos a top source of visitors to Thailand
More and more Lao people are travelling overseas, particularly to Thailand and other ASEAN countries, thanks to Laos’ continuing economic growth which has generated increasing wealth. Director General of the Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism’s Tourism Marketing Department, Mr Saly Phimphinith, told Vientiane Times ...
Cambodia, Russia discuss trade
Since reaching a deal to import agricultural products from the kingdom to Russia in mid-2016, Cambodia and Russia have now started talks on boosting trade involving agriculture, garments and oil. Cambodia asked Russia to import milled rice, sugar and garment products to comply with the agreement ...
Import ban on petrol aims at plugging leaks
Cambodia will prohibit land-based imports of refined petroleum products from January 1 to eliminate smuggling along the country’s borders and improve the efficiency of customs revenue collection, officials said on December 29. According to the General Department of Customs and Excise, which announced the ban ...
Port plan to lower freight costs
A massive $300 million expansion of the Kingdom’s principal seaport announced this week will significantly improve supply chain logistics, reduce transport costs, and increase the competitiveness of Cambodian goods in international markets, private sector leaders said on December 29. Sin Chanthy, president of the Cambodia ...
China poaches airport contract
The government has commissioned a Chinese consortium to build a new international airport for Siem Reap and formed a committee to determine how to compensate the French company that operates the city’s existing airport for prematurely ending its concession licence, according to documents obtained on ...