Chinese firm plans to invest in cotton if second test a success
GM and Fiat warn auto industry on difficult road
CHINESE company Jiangsu Lianfa Textile Co Ltd plans to invest in cotton in Pursat province to process fabrics and supply the Kingdom’s garment factories, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.
Following successful preliminary crop tests, Jiangsu Lianfa is preparing a second test on 180ha in the province’s Bakan district, said the ministry, adding that the firm brought more than 40 varieties of cotton seeds for the test.
The investment project comes a year after Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Veng Sakhon visited the company in China’s Jiangsu province last year, it said in a Facebook post on Tuesday.
The cotton industry declined during the Khmer Rouge era when nearly all agricultural resources were allocated to rice production.
Between 1965 and 1975, the industry – established by the French – thrived, and thousands of acres of the crop were harvested each year.
Although cotton production continued under the Pol Pot regime, a lack of a market and years of insect infestation led Cambodian farmers to all but give up on it by 1985.
A ministry spokesman Srey Vuthy said Jiangsu Lianfa also planned to build a processing plant but did not know when.
“I t hink t hat if t his project is successf ul, it will help restore t he cotton industr y in Cambodia,” he said.
Provincial Department of Agriculture director Lay Visith told The Post that he and senior ministry officials on Tuesday visited the field.
“I see they are clearing the land and digging a pond, I don’t think they’ll start for at least two more years. I hope that the people living in Pursat province will be able to find new jobs in cotton planting,” said Visith.
He said the company is still in the process of crop testing 44 different kinds of varieties from China.
“They have been tested for their yields, weather and disease resilience, and adaptability to our soil. They’ll probably run two or three seasons worth of tests,” he said.
Garment factories are the engine for the Kingdom’s manufacturing sector. However, raw materials have to be imported.
Sok Vanna, deput y director of t he ministr y’s Department of Industria l Crop, said if a Chinese company were to set up a cotton mill in Cambodia, farmers would flock to cotton planting.
“I say that it’s good if a company plants cotton, there may be farmers who turn to grow cotton instead because they see a demand for it and high prices. They could become interested in cotton growing,” he said. WITH plant closures hanging over the start of contract negotiations, General Motors (GM) chief Mary Barra on Tuesday warned the United Auto Workers ( UAW ) union that the industry is facing a difficult road ahead.
Barra opened talks with labour at the traditional handshake ceremony, emphasising that the company must be prepared to change to be better positioned for the future.
“In a transforming industry, if we want our company to grow – and grow jobs – we can’t keep doing things the same way,” she said.
GM has drawn the wrath of the UAW and US President Donald Trump over plans to halt production at four US plants including a major one in Lordstown, Ohio, a state that could be key to Trump’s re-election bid next year.
GM is attempting to sell that plant to a start-up company proposing to build electric trucks.
“I have made it clear publicly and in many conversations with elected officials – including President Trump – that we are committed to investing in and growing jobs in the US,” Barra said.
But she cautioned that, in addition to challenges of changing technology, “we continue to operate in a very uncertain trade environment in a long-lead industry”.
After launching contract negotiations with Ford on Monday, UAW president Gary Jones opened talks on Tuesday with GM and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA).
FCA North America chief operating officer Mark Stewart had a similar message for workers about the need for the industry to prepare for a future that will be dominated by electric and self-driving vehicles.
“Our operational flexibility, the flexibility of our competitive cost structure we created together, are needed to continue to fund these investments with electrification and the future of all of our company,” Stewart told labour leaders, according to media reports.
Jones repeated the message he delivered to Ford, saying the union expects to make economic gains and share in profits in the contracts it will sign this coming fall.
“When you needed us, we were there, and we expect no less in return,” he noted.
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