News
Government probing logging claims
The Ministry of Environment is investigating collusion between state officials and timber traders in the country’s east, Environment Minister Say Sam Al said on May 11, three days after a report exposed industrial-scale illegal logging backed by Vietnamese traders in Ratanakkiri province. The minister’s comments ...
Logging trucks seized in Ratanakkiri
Authorities intercepted four trucks carrying 81 pieces of illegal luxury timber at a checkpoint in Ratanakkiri province’s O’Yadav district last Friday, District Military Police Commader Sok Min said on May 7. “The trucks and timber were hidden in the rubber plantation of a company located ...
Vietnam stops nine overloaded trucks with illegal lumber
Authorities in Vietnam’s Gia Lai province have recently stopped at least nine overloaded timber trucks crossing into the country from the Kingdom, despite the Cambodian government ostensibly banning wood exports to its eastern neighbour, according to a Vietnamese news report. The report, published earlier this ...
More timber seized from Ratanakkiri
Ratanakkiri provincial authorities on April 19 seized a large cache of luxury wood and arrested four people about to sell the timber to Vietnam. Ratanakkiri provincial police chief Kim Reaksmey said the wood was discovered at two separate locations in Banlung town’s La Bansiek commune and ...
Vietnam-bound timber seized
Ratanakkiri provincial forces and military police yesterday seized 15 logs of luxury wood bound for export to Vietnam. Provincial military police chief Kim Reaksmey said the haul was found when officers targeted the location in Patort village in Lumphat district for the second time. The team ...
PM: More roads, bridges
Prime Minister Hun Sen has highlighted his government’s achievements in building new infrastructure as part of a message to commemorate Khmer New Year. He said 15,376 kilometers of national roads and bridges have been built over the past year, including 12,100 km of asphalt roads. During ...
Government plugs rubber switch
The government is seeking intrepid smallholder farmers to pilot a project that would transform 6,000 hectares of cropland in two provinces into a patchwork of small rubber plantations. The Ministry of Agriculture is eyeing 5,000 hectares of land in Ratanakkiri and 1,000 hectares in Battambang ...
A ripe market for avocados
Avocados have never been a big part of the Khmer diet, making infrequent appearances in dessert dishes or drenched in condensed milk as a smoothie. But a small local market for the green pear-shaped fruit is forming, and experts say it could be a profitable ...
Man unearths 227kg bomb in Ratanakkiri
An excavator operator was lucky to escape with his life on Monday evening after striking a 1970s-era Mk-82 bomb while digging in Ratanakkiri province’s Lumphat district. Chum Touch, police chief of Lbaing I commune, where the unexploded ordnance was found, said the excavator had unearthed ...
Prized spice has its fans, and imitators

Given the wild success of Kampot pepper, which can fetch up to three times the amount per kilo as Cambodian pepper produced without its prized label, it is hardly surprising that the product has its share of imitators. In an effort to address the risk ...