01/05/2014 Asia Business Report

Catholic College. Now on BBC News all the latest business news live

from Singapore. As Asia celebrates Labour Day, what

does the region need to do to improve workers rights? The king of

fruit, one of India's key exports has been banned in Europe and we

will look at the impact it produces. Hello and welcome to Asia

Business Report. It cannot have escaped your notice that today is

the 1st of May and many are taking the day off to celebrate Labour

Day. But here in Asia, they state there is still quite a bit of work

to do. There are rising Labour disputes in China and in Bangladesh,

safety was called into question after the collapse of a factory over

a year ago. We spoke to our correspondent about workers

improving their rights. No country is willing to take a stand and have

minimum wage requirements for their low`paid workers or to have safety

standards that guarantee that they will not end up in hospital. We can

look we have seen it in Cambodia and Indonesia, but is raising the

minimum wage the best way to address the issue? It is necessary, not

sufficient. It is affected by many things. If you raise minimum wages,

people feel that they can go home and eat something, they feel more

secure. But beyond that, capitalist provides capital, they want a very

high return on their capital and what do they want for that return?

No safety standards, no minimum wages, because that keeps the cost

of production low and profits high. It will go to countries that

guarantee them no such standards. But we are seeing wages rising in

China, and manufacturers even going to other cheaper markets in the

region. Do you think that as wages inevitably rise it will put Asia's

the low wage manufacturing sector at risk? They will keep moving. It will

move to India or other countries but it is a very slow`moving train that

will eventually move to Africa where the cheapest Labour will be. I do

not think this will go away for the next 20 years. It is here to stay.

This is a model where capitalism wants a very high return and when

the capital return is higher than economic growth, people will be

allowed to earn wealth. They are not earning enough and the capitalist is

earning so it is divided. Poverty reduction will be a key topic when

finance ministers meet in Kazakhstan this weekend for an annual general

meeting. We want to eradicate this and the Asia eradicate poverty,

which is only a one point to $5 a day income. Based on what we see

right now, we see the potential to eradicate this I 2025, years ahead

of the global agenda. It means that we have many challenges ahead of us

`` by. We still have a lot to deal with. If Asia becomes middle income,

it will cause questions around whether this daily rate is

relevant. The pickup in economic activity means that the Fed will

keep cutting it income. It has made a straight cut of 10 billion which

sent US stocks soaring with the Dow setting records. Rockets at Japan

Airlines slipped 3% but its rival took the biggest tumble with shares

falling `` profits. Mongolia is said to be one of the rising forces in

Asia and disputes in mining companies are causing a drop in

investment. We talked to an expert about what the country is doing to

attract investors. We are trying to make a significant changes so that

Mongolia can become a favourable destination for Westerners. It has

discovered a boom because of the discovery of commodities. When this

happens, there tends to be a period of growth followed by a great fall.

How does Mongolia intend to deal with that? We have China on our

doorstep. Are you concerned about the possibility of a slowdown in

China? Of course. They are our main market. We do not expect that it

will change significantly in the decades to come. They have quite

significant volumes of investments in the country and are improving

infrastructure. Is Mongolia looking to expand its markets? In the next

ten or 15 years, of course. We want to ship more raw commodities like

coal. Also, at the same time, we want to add value to our local

commodities and with the investment from western countries, we will be

able to put more value into it. Every year come a India exports

about $4 billion of fruit, vegetables and agricultural products

to Europe and one of their most famous exports are mangoes which

have been banned by the European Union today. Our correspondent

explains why. Across India, tens of thousands of people do this job.

Picking mangoes is tough work. There are just a few weeks to harvest the

fruit and get it out to the customer. More than half of the

world mangoes are grown here in India and just a fraction are

available for sale. Of those markets, Europe is one of the most

famous. But they now have a challenge. Fruit flies like these

were found in a number of ship and sent from India to Europe and a band

has been imposed on a number of fruits, including mangoes. For

farmers, aims are OK for now. Most have contract for this year but for

wholesalers, it is a headache. This man specializes in these mangoes,

and explains his troubles. TRANSLATION: India has many buyers

but because there are so many extra mangoes, the price is falling fast.

The European Union says less than 5% of Indian produce is affected by the

ban. What is British imports are, that is little consolation. He

relies on these mangoes to get a premium through the quiet months. He

has been stockpiling through the band and has started an online

petition to try to turn it around. They are strict orders for

agriculture and they are working to come up with solutions. India should

be allowed to work through it rather than having a ban imposed. The

European Union is open to talks from authorities and if you are convinced

that the stock is safe, the band will be lifted before the next

season. That is out, most mango farmers would happily pick. A quick

look at the markets now. We saw the Dow closing at a record high ``

DOW. We have many other markets that are closed for the holiday,

Australia is opened and was slightly lower earlier today. That is all for

this edition of Asia Business Report. Thank you for watching

Welcome to BBC News, broadcasting to our viewers on public television in

America and around the globe. I'm Adnan Nawaz.