21/05/2014 Asia Business Report

travelled to Syria to join a terrorist training camp. Now on BBC

News all the latest business news live from Singapore. China and

Russia have yet to sign a $400 billion energy deal over a price

dispute. Japan posts a trade shortfall for a 22nd`straight month

due to its dependence on foreign gas. Thank you for watching Asia

Business Report. 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 Putin, is in Shanghai as part of his first trip

to the mainland since President Xi Jinping took office. Discussions

around the multibillion`dollar deal 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 $US90 billion last year. But the neighbours want to

double that to $200 billion by 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? Are they desperate to sign this deal, and if the deal

is not signed, what implications 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

Siberia. It wants this deal for Siberia. It wants this deal for

political and economic purposes. In other economic news, Japan's trade

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

and a reduced demand for imports. They rose by 3.4% from a year ago,

the least 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 minus 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 with a 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 and the

economy is doing comparatively well. What are we likely to see from

demand numbers? What we see so far is that exports are increasing as

well. This has been one big concern, because demand in 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. That is expected to cost the firm $400 million. 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 billion offer from AstraZeneca shareholders. The

offer was turned down 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. For

more on that story, log on to our website. One in three South Asians

paid a bribe in 2012, making it one of the world's most corrupt regions.

The findings are from the anti`corruption 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 some time. It is time now to pull this together. Secondly,

there are a number of laws that are waiting to be passed in India, and

these need to be put in place as 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 goat meat. Phil Mercer has more from

Cobar in New South Wales. In Australia's rugged outback, roam

vast numbers of wild goats. Feral herds have become part of a

lucrative and growing industry. Australia is the world's largest

exporter of goat meat, and suppliers believe the industry is about to

experience a boom. I can see it doubling. It has just got that

potential to keep growing, with the amount of feral goats. They say the

anywhere between one million and two anywhere between one million and two

million. A huge number of goats can be supplied. 100,000 goats are

processed at this depot in Cobar in New South Wales, caught usually by

farmers who consider them to be a pest. 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 go for 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. Other popular

markets include Singapore and Brunei. It is a multimillion`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. The top stories this

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