23/01/2014 Asia Business Report


23/01/2014

Similar Content

Browse content similar to 23/01/2014. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!

Transcript


LineFromTo

the biggest fall since 1997. A record 30 million people have jobs

:00:00.:00:00.

and the number of people out of work now stands at 7.1%. Time now for the

:00:00.:00:09.

latest business News live from Singapore.

:00:10.:00:18.

Pro or anti nuclear, energy policies take centre stage in Tokyo's

:00:19.:00:26.

governor race. Economic growth and renewable energy. Why Southeast Asia

:00:27.:00:30.

is becoming a destination for green investors.

:00:31.:00:39.

Welcome to Asia Business Report. We stuffed with Japan today where

:00:40.:00:43.

campaigning is under way for a new Tokyo governor, the vote is in two

:00:44.:00:48.

weeks time on one issue that has been brought to the fore is nuclear

:00:49.:00:54.

power. The main reason is because of the men that has surprised many I

:00:55.:00:59.

put himself in the race. A former prime minister who is backed by

:01:00.:01:04.

another prime minister. They are campaigning on an antinuclear

:01:05.:01:07.

platform. They are pitted against the front runner and he has the

:01:08.:01:16.

backing of the ruling Liberal Democrat party and the current prime

:01:17.:01:19.

minister. So many names and 70 prime ministers, earlier I spoke to

:01:20.:01:28.

someone who spoke about how they see the race panning out. The campaign

:01:29.:01:35.

kicks off today and what the former promised the hopes is that the

:01:36.:01:41.

nuclear issue, that has been around since the Fukushima accident, can

:01:42.:01:46.

really get traction. The mood of the country is split on the idea of

:01:47.:01:50.

whether Japan should restart of the -- restart its nuclear power plants

:01:51.:01:56.

but the movement has not coalesced. You silly country is split over the

:01:57.:02:02.

nuclear issue but what about the sense in Tokyo itself. After the

:02:03.:02:05.

Fukushima crisis, it seemed there were many people against the idea of

:02:06.:02:12.

nuclear power. I think Tokyo is the centre of the enzyme nuclear

:02:13.:02:16.

movement in some respects. Something like 60% according to a recent poll.

:02:17.:02:23.

That is still very much of a split. There are other people that say

:02:24.:02:28.

other issues should be the ones discussed in the Tokyo election, not

:02:29.:02:33.

nuclear policy. What should be policies be? Your Mac a more

:02:34.:02:36.

down-to-earth issues, healthcare, retirement, pensions, things like

:02:37.:02:45.

that that affect people 's lives. There is also the sense amongst the

:02:46.:02:53.

visitors community, that it will not be good for the economy. That would

:02:54.:02:58.

depend on how far the antinuclear aspect of the campaign goes and what

:02:59.:03:06.

that means. With all the nuclear plants shut, Japan is importing huge

:03:07.:03:09.

quantities of very expensive fossil fuel to keep electricity going and

:03:10.:03:15.

that has had an impact on the trade deficit and the broader current

:03:16.:03:18.

account deficit. Therefore, that can harm the economy and the other big

:03:19.:03:24.

issue is that if there are no nuclear plants, electricity prices

:03:25.:03:28.

for industry will rise and that could be a problem for the economic

:03:29.:03:31.

programme that the Prime Minister is pushing. Factory activity in China

:03:32.:03:37.

slowdown in January as the first contraction in six months as new

:03:38.:03:41.

orders decline. That is according to calculations from HSBC purchasing

:03:42.:03:47.

managers which came in at 49.6. Any reading below 50 indicates a

:03:48.:03:53.

contraction. A mild slowdown at the end of last year has continued into

:03:54.:03:59.

the start of the New Year. South Korea's Central bank says the

:04:00.:04:04.

economy recorded its biggest growth in three years. The economy expanded

:04:05.:04:09.

by 3.9% from the previous year due to an increase in capital

:04:10.:04:12.

expenditure. For all of last year, Asia's for the last --

:04:13.:04:24.

fourth-largest economy expanded. The e-commerce company, eBay, has

:04:25.:04:27.

rebuffed a suggestion arguing that losing the payment services would

:04:28.:04:32.

disrupt business synergies. If eBay and PayPal were to operate

:04:33.:04:39.

separately, it would encourage other online payments to adopt PayPal as

:04:40.:04:44.

their online service provider. EBay bought PayPal. The industrial action

:04:45.:04:55.

will start today and halt production at the world's three died as part of

:04:56.:04:59.

producers. The union says 70,000 members will begin indefinite action

:05:00.:05:04.

from the start of the morning shift. Mineworkers want their current pay

:05:05.:05:07.

rates to be doubled. The World Economic Forum is an event at Davos

:05:08.:05:13.

and attracts the Who's Who of global leadership. Thousands of guests are

:05:14.:05:22.

staying at the hotels and mingling and networking events and all those

:05:23.:05:26.

parties of which there are more than 300 to go to. Our correspondent went

:05:27.:05:30.

to one hospitality venue for a causal at the Darvel strategy. Let

:05:31.:05:39.

me bring you to the car park at the Belvedere Hotel. It is the

:05:40.:05:43.

cloakroom. Come Friday and Thursday evening this will be chock-a-block

:05:44.:05:46.

with people trying to hand over codes. This is essentially a

:05:47.:05:52.

function factory. It is wall-to-wall functions, receptions, there is

:05:53.:05:57.

another one going on down there. They are preparing for it at the

:05:58.:06:02.

moment and the night is going to be Korean night. Down the corridor we

:06:03.:06:07.

can see the souvenirs that the Koreans will be handing over. Stefan

:06:08.:06:10.

Brooks is here and he is the manager, the area manager for the

:06:11.:06:14.

hotel. That's going as the preparations are under way for

:06:15.:06:18.

Korean evening. How many functions do you have in five days? Over 320

:06:19.:06:24.

in five days. There are about 28 meeting rooms, 44 officers, three

:06:25.:06:33.

large sized meeting rooms like this. Hammy events will be having here in

:06:34.:06:39.

one-day? In one day, the main date is Thursday, we will have six. Each

:06:40.:06:46.

time you need to rebuild according to what the client wants? yes. It is

:06:47.:06:51.

a logistical challenge. It is a challenge. What about the normal

:06:52.:06:56.

hotel services, a coffin, hair styling, not tonight or tomorrow

:06:57.:07:04.

night. This is a massage parlour taken over by a consultancy firm.

:07:05.:07:09.

Let me take you to the swimming pool. Every single square metre of

:07:10.:07:15.

this hotel like every Hotel in Davos is being used up. This is the

:07:16.:07:19.

swimming pool and this is the Jacuzzi. All covered over. This as

:07:20.:07:23.

well, it is not the moment to go diving if you are feeling a little

:07:24.:07:27.

stressed at the World Economic Forum. There is one message that

:07:28.:07:34.

everyone needs to take away, we are all enjoying the drinking alcohol as

:07:35.:07:36.

well, way of surviving this is to just put something to your lips,

:07:37.:07:43.

enjoy it and move onto the next party because you need to be up 5am

:07:44.:07:46.

for breakfast the next day. More on those meetings and dealings

:07:47.:07:50.

and parties going on at Davos, you can go to the website. Now to the

:07:51.:07:57.

future of energy. Drawing and industrialising economies, some

:07:58.:08:00.

companies are looking to South East Asia to invest in renewable energy

:08:01.:08:09.

like biomass. We asked how a company's biomass project will be

:08:10.:08:14.

economic league stable. I would say the most important and most relevant

:08:15.:08:18.

would be the possibility to aggregate a large volume of biomass

:08:19.:08:23.

because of the brink -- the conversion process is industrial.

:08:24.:08:27.

There are economies of scale and there is value in having a rather

:08:28.:08:33.

large plans but that means that the biomass available to the plant needs

:08:34.:08:38.

to be available in large quantities at a reasonable, low cost. Biomass

:08:39.:08:47.

is not a real commodity. It is light, it is not totally

:08:48.:08:55.

interchangeable. It needs to be sourced or produced rather locally.

:08:56.:09:02.

If you take a look at the controversies surrounding biomass,

:09:03.:09:07.

it has been stated that it is taking away food from the mouths of people

:09:08.:09:12.

because this, corn products, you can use to feed the world. How much is

:09:13.:09:19.

actually true, how do you address the controversy? I think our

:09:20.:09:26.

technology address the issue under three different perspectives. First

:09:27.:09:35.

of all, cellulose in ethanol can be obtained by agriculture residue,

:09:36.:09:41.

that does not use land, that is a byproduct. Food versus fuel, it is

:09:42.:09:45.

not a fight at all. Secondly, the process can also use vacated crops.

:09:46.:09:55.

-- dedicated crops. In several circumstances those crops can be

:09:56.:09:59.

grown on what is called marginal land. That is not suitable for

:10:00.:10:08.

interesting food production. Let's look at the markets now because they

:10:09.:10:14.

are all lower at the moment. You saw Japan at a two week high earlier and

:10:15.:10:19.

it has lost those gains. That is mainly due to the fact we saw that

:10:20.:10:23.

Chinese manufacturing darter. -- data. As a result of that we have

:10:24.:10:34.

seen all these markets lower. They give are watching. -- thank you for

:10:35.:10:36.

watching. The main news stories this hour. The

:10:37.:10:46.

opening day of the Syrian peace conference has highlighted the huge

:10:47.:10:52.

gulf between as an aside's government and rebel troops. The UN

:10:53.:10:53.

Download Subtitles

SRT

ASS