21/05/2014 Asia Business Report

in Syria. Mashudur Choudhury was found to have travelled there to

join the training camp. Now for the business news live in Singapore,

with Rico Hizon. China and Russia have yet to sign a

400,000,000,000`dollar energy deal over a price dispute. Japan posts a

trade shortfall for a 22nd straight month due to its dependence on

foreign gas. 400,000,000,000`dollar energy deal.

We are still waiting to hear if a huge deal will be signed for Russia

to begin supplying gas to China. Russia's president, Vladimir Pugin,

is in Shanghai as part of his first trip to the mainland since President

Xi Jinping took office. Talks have been going on for a decade, but

pressure from the West over actions in Ukraine have meant that Russia is

keen to nurture a big new customer. China is already Russia's largest

single trading partner, with bilateral trade between the two

giants coming to 90 billion US dollars last year. But the

neighbours want to double that to 200 billion the end the decade. I

spoke to a member of the energy studies Institute, asking him

whether he thinks China will pay for the gas deal. It can afford the

price, it is already paying high prices from Turkmenistan, it is

whether it is willing to pay the price. What are the other

alternatives for China if they don't close this deal, which has been

going on now for ten years? It can boost other sources of gas. Gas from

Central Asia, and imported gas by ship as liquefied natural gas. At

home, it is already building lots of cold gas plants, and it is trying to

develop shale gas. What about for Russia? Of a desperate to sign this

deal, and if the deal is not signed, what invitations will there be? I

think politically it is very important for Vladimir Putin to show

to Europe that it has other potential customers. But I think

domestically it wants to develop these fields in the East, these gas

fields, and it wants to develop the region in eastern Siberia. It wants

this deal for political and economic purposes. In economic news, Japan's

trade deficit shrank to $8 billion in April, after lower consumer

spending and a reduced the man for imports. They rose by 3.4% from a

year ago, the list in 16 months. Exports showed a pickup, rising 5.1%

from earlier, compared to estimates for a 4.8% gain. Earlier I spoke to

Japan economist to get his take on the numbers. The overall trade

balance is more in the miners and the negative than expected, but for

once, it is a good result, because it shows that imports remain strong

in Japan. They have been very high, because people have been buying in

March to fill up on anything that gets more costly without sales tax

hike in April. Compared to last year, overall imports are still at

plus 3%, that is a very strong result and shows that demand in

Japan remains high on the economy is doing comparatively well. What are

we likely to see from the main numbers? What we see so far is that

exports are increasing as well. This has been one big concern, because

demand the Japan has been boosted unofficially over the last year,

with monetary policy and fiscal policy and the sales tax hike, but

now we see that exporters are pushing forward, going into overseas

markets again, as demand is lower in Japan so the overall result is

balanced and positive. For Abenomics to be able to be successful in the

medium to longer term, we have to see now the PM instituting

structural reforms to sustain this growth. That is now one point. We

will have an announcement from the Bank of Japan today, and many people

have been hoping it would be pushing further, rescuing the economy even

more, but there is no rescuing being needed so far. There might be very

little extra on that site, and for Abenomics we are hoping for

structural reform. Cutting corporate taxes, boosting sectors by

deregulation, and the government going into a more relaxed mode,

where discussions will come up with less than would be needed. That

would be a negative. In other business news, General Motors is

recalling another 2.6 million vehicles. This is because of

possible defects. It includes faulty seatbelts, transmissions, airbags

and fire issues. The US motor giant has recall 50 million cars in total

this year. TGI Friday's has been sold to a private equity firm,

according to the Wall Street Journal. Two companies paid more

than $800 million for the fast food chain. TGI Friday's can be found in

50 countries, and posted global scales of nearly $3 billion last

year. Pfizer is still looking to take control of AstraZeneca, after

the second takeover bid was rejected. According to reports,

Pfizer is vying to get support for its 117,000,000,000`dollar offer

from AstraZeneca shareholders. The offer was turned out on Tuesday,

saying it was too low and did not account for the value of future

medicine. A deal between the two companies would have created the

world's biggest drugs group. Findings from the anticorruption

group, transparency International, have found severe corruption in

India. They are hoping that the new government will lead the charge in

dealing with this. First of all, I believe that all of the government

in Asia will need to send a strong message that politics will be kept

away from the public sector and all the institutions. A clear message

will need to be sent out to all the stakeholders. In India particularly,

a new act will need to be implemented, and that is what the

Indian people have been looking for for some time. It is time now to

are a number of laws that are are a number of laws that are

waiting to be passed in India, and these need to be put in place at the

very first priority. Those will be some of the first few steps that

need to be taken immediately, especially into the new Narendra

Modi government, where people are looking forward to seeing changes.

Asian nations are increasingly looking to Australia to help feed

the growing populations. Beef and fresh vegetables make up much of the

demand even though Australia is relying on growth in the

agricultural sector to help secure its economic future. One product

reflecting the increased demand is the export of live goats and

goatmeat. Phil Mercer has more from Cobar in New South Wales.

In Australia's rugged outback, vast numbers of wild goats. Feral

herds have become part of a lucrative and growing industry.

Australia is the world's largest exporter of goatmeat, and suppliers

believe the industry is about to experience a boom. I can see a

doubling. It has just got that potential to keep growing, with the

amount of feral goats. They say the Western division has a population of

anywhere between one million and 2 million. A huge number of goats can

be supplied. 100,000 votes a protest at this depot in Cobar in New South

Wales, court usually by farmers who consider them to be a pest `` goats

are processed. It is either sold to domestic consumers here in Australia

or to a growing international market. There is also a thriving

trade in farm animals. These meaty specimens on a property near the

town of Orange are a robust variety brought to Australia from South

Africa in the 1980s. They are part of a growing business, sending live

exports to Asia. We mainly sell to Malaysia and Thailand, but our goats

mainly gopher breeding, so the people who come here to look at my

animals are looking for a good`quality stud animal that will

fit into what their breeding programme is `` go for.

popular markets include Singapore and Brunei. It is a multi`

million`dollar trade in meat that has risen sharply in recent years.

Australian goat exports have doubled in the past decade. While much is

sold to the US, there is a growing appetite in Asia. We have seen

recent export orders coming from such countries, Malaysia, China,

Maria, the Philippines, and prices have lifted up phenomenally. It

seems to be getting bigger and bigger each week, each month and

each year. The industry has had its problems with inconsistent supply

and quality. But both suppliers here insist that their animals are among

the best in the world, and are boosting not only the Australian

economy, but are helping to feed and ever hungrier Asia.

Before we go, don't forget to follow us on Twitter. Thank you for joining

us. Our top stories: At least 118 people

have died in two explosions in the Nigerian city of Jos. He hit the

market and a hospital, what is believed to be the latest Boko Haram

attack. Thailand has woken up to its second day under martial law. The

caretaker PM has called for fresh elections to be held