via CAAI
By Agency Reporter
Tuesday, 21 Dec 2010
Thailand: If Cambodia is known for investment at all, it is known for low-cost, low-margin industries such as textiles, but there are signs that the country could be starting its own journey up the value chain Financial Times reported on Monday.
Minebea, the Japanese precision component manufacturer, has just announced that it is to build a Y5bn component factory near Phnom Penh, in a move to build up its Southeast Asian production network.
Under the new arrangement, the Cambodian facility – which will manufacture small and mid-sized motots for home electronics - will receive parts from Minebea’s plant in Thailand, Dow Jones reports.
The Japanese company has announced that production will start in April 2011 and that it will begin by leasing facilities within Phnom Penh’s Special Economic Zone. At a later date the company will build a new plant where production will start at the end of 2012 with 5,000 workers.
For investors, Cambodia offers a number of attractions: it is stable (even if its democratic credentials are somewhat tarnished), labour is cheap, and its largely dollarized economy makes it particularly attractive for Japanese investors, who have watched with dismay as the yen has appreciated more than nine per cent against the dollar, year to date.
But it lacks infrastructure and high quality human resources, and its buccaneering business environment has put off all but the hardest investors.
Regional players, however, are showing increasing interest. China is the biggest investor, but Vietnamese and Korean companies are also coming in, particularly in primary industries such as rubber, mining and power generation.
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