On Tuesday, the Cambodian police with riot gears thwarted a week-long strike sparked off by the suspension of a union official at a Malaysian-owned garment factory, which produced goods for international brands including Gap, Benetton, Adidas and Puma. It has been reported that the clashes between more than 100 armed police force and 3,000 garment workers in Phnom Penh had resulted in nine women being hurt, though authorities maintain the operations did not hurt anyone.

The BBC’s Guy De Launey in Phnom Penh says the unrest could be a symptom of a wider social malaise owing to dwindling orders in Cambodia’s crucial garment industry which resulted in tens of thousands of job losses. Early this month, government increased the minimum wage from about $50 to $60, but the double-digit inflation and the trade unions demands of above $80 seemed to be bogging down the effect.

Albeit the unions retracted from a three-day general strike in protest against the meagre rise, the union official’s suspension is believed to have aggravated the situation. But last week’s Huffington Post report interpreted these strikes as a knee-jerk reaction to irrational calibration of wages by the outsourcing firms or associated agencies.

Interestingly, in last week’s blog by Auret van Heerden, President and CEO of the Fair Labour Association visualizes firms that build strong Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programmes into their operations and culture would have the edge in many markets. Nevertheless, evidences show such practices by firms are beyond procurement principles as it solely reckons pricing and related aspects devoid of labour rights – especially post-meltdown.

Cambodia’s textile industry accounts for around 85 percent of exports, and is the country’s third-largest source of income after tourism and agriculture. The Southeast Asian state continues to be in the grip of labour problems particularly after the global economic crisis that bombed exports severely to create an economic landscape of joblessness – and desertion of production units by the employers.

Toboc Trade News

According to Emirates Business24/7, the companies such as Gemalto, Fundamo, mBlox and the Western Union are keen on tying up with the mobile service providers to cash in on the new market. The primary focus of these companies would be to extend services along with the GCC member states to countries including India, Pakistan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Yemen, Iran, Afghanistan and Syria, and some countries in Africa and Latin America.

Gemalto, one of the largest in the mobile payments solutions segment, is already working with du and etisalat. Pascal Oromi, VP for mobile financial services at Gemalto said currently, one third of Gemalto’s revenue came from the Middle East, and was expected to grow significantly in 2010.

Likewise, Fundamo, another player in this space who was unsuccessful at previous occasions for tenders in the UAE is understood to be positive on another shy. Richard Bailey, Product Manager at Fundamo pointed out that mobile money provided a ready access to migrants who still did not have access to traditional banking services by offering banks an opportunity to reach out to the unbanked.

As per latest reports, the Western Union has roped in Comviva Technologies, one of India’s largest providers of VAS to mobile operators to its Mobile Vendor Program for servicing mobile finance initiatives across the globe. Khalid Fellahi, Senior VP, Mobile Transaction Services of the Western Union, informed the technology had been a success in Kenya and Philippines, and an announcement on its mobile wallet plans in the Middle East was awaited soon.

Whereas, Andrew Bud, Executive Chairman at Sweden based mBlox said the high mobile penetration and also lack of banking infrastructure in some areas make it a top area for mBlox. The company plans to operate from Mumbai in India to cater the needs of the Middle East.

Toboc Trade News

The president of Malaysian Indian Business Association (MIBA) P Sivakumar told that it was imperative to relax visa regulations to tide over the growing demand for tailors as many shops were at the verge of shutting down. The inadequacy of sustainable skilled human resources in this field within the country was pointed out to be one of the major reasons for the shortage.

Sivakumar said currently most of the workers with traditional sewing skills were hired from India and Pakistan. He further added although most of these businesses preferred to hire Malaysians, there was a lack of local workers with the necessary skills.

Many representatives from the industry is understood to have approached the MIBA president on this issue as they feared any delay from the government in granting permission to hire foreigners would force them to close shop sooner or later. Sivakumar said “We want the government to consider their plight as it is a unique problem”.

The Malaysian government’s efforts to train locals to avoid jobs being lost to foreigners were futile following many prospects who were homemakers opted to work from home. Sivakumar said the government should consider long-term training programs to generate skilled workers within the country.

According to sources, the MIBA is preparing to present a memorandum to the Human Resources Ministry to resolve this issue, and there are also plans afoot to set up an Indian tailors’ association. The MIBA is a non-profit and non-governmental organization which facilitates entrepreneurial integration of the Malaysian Indians to the region.

Toboc Trade News

The officials in the Sasastra Seema Bal (SSB) that guards the Indo-Nepal border stated the seizures of red sandalwood had become a commonplace issue all along the porous Indo-Nepal border. According to sources, this year alone about 450 tons of red sandalwood has been seized as compared to previous year’s 1000 tons.

The sandalwood is procured largely felling trees illegally from the Mysore region about 150km away from Bangalore and brought to any of the Eastern states of India including Bihar and West Bengal. Later it reached the final destination, China through Tatopani on Arniko Highway in North Nepal, the largest Sino-Nepal trade point. Nepali traders from Tatopani claimed that Arniko Highway was completely taken over by smugglers as conventional trade routes were heavily guarded.

Under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) the sandalwood tree is protected, and any trading of sandalwood domestically or otherwise requires the government of India authorization. Sandalwood mafia in connivance with some state department officials is helping the trade to flourish despite such a trade activity invites heavy fines and rigorous punishments as per Indian law.

In Malaysia, the modus operandi is to declare the shipment of sandalwood as galvanised iron. Harun said last month the Timber board had seized a container loaded with 269 sandalwood logs worth more than $1mn that was trying to hoodwink the authorities through similar method. It should be noted that exporting the same imported goods from Malaysia the containers do not pass through the Customs formalities once again.

Fragrant sandalwood is widely used in the manufacturing of incense sticks, perfumes and toilet soaps. On the other hand, show pieces, handicrafts and some musical instruments in China are made out of red sandalwood. It has been told that even red sandalwood goes into the making of butts of firearms in China due to its curving capacity and strength. All varieties of sandalwood are used in various medicinal applications and beauty treatments.

Toboc Trade News