79 more industrial investment projects registered

79 more industrial investment projects registered

The Ministry of Industry, Science, Technology and Innovation registered 79 industrial investment projects in the first semester of this year, while more than 100 factories closed.

Heng Sokkong, secretary of state, and spokesman said yesterday the new industrial projects are mostly in food processing and medical wares manufacturing including face masks, anti-bacterial gel and personal protection suits.

The demand for these products is rising in the context of Covid-19, attracting new investment. Some are locally produced to meet domestic demand and some are exported.

Sokkong said: “Some existing factories locally have changed from producing clothes and other products to producing medical wares.”

Figures for comparison with last year nor the costs of total new investment projects were available.

The report said that 135 factories have been closed mainly because of Covid-19 during the first six months of this year.

The Council for the Development of Cambodia (CDC) approved 87 qualified investment projects with a total investment of $3 billion, a 10 percent increase compared with that a year before.

The manufacturing investment projects or other investment projects are required to register at the ministries in their respective fields, but qualified investment projects are required to register at the CDC for an exemption on profit taxes or to apply a special depreciation allowance or a raft of other benefits, depending on various factors.

Sokkong said the ministry is ready to facilitate and coordinate new investments.

The total number of factories in the Kingdom by the end of 2020 was 1,853. These factories employed 900,000 local workers.

The export of garments is decreasing but exports of non-garment products such as bicycles, electronic components and agricultural goods are increasing. Khmer Times