22/12/2015 Asia Business Report


22/12/2015

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Now on BBC News all the latest business news live from Singapore.

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behind the devastating fires this year.

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Betting big. Asia's casino giants are spending billions on new

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resorts, but is there enough business to go around?

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The thick haze blanketing parts of South East Asia for months was

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caused by forest fires, like this one in Indonesia, started

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deliberately to clear land. Palm oil pulp and paper companies were widely

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blamed, but until now none had been held to account. Now the Indonesian

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government says 56 companies are being punished.

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Yesterday they released the initials and general locations of these

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companies. The forestry ministry, when she was pushed by journalists,

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said she didn't feel comfortable widely releasing the name, but

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insisted the Indonesian government had nothing to hide and that over

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the period of their investigation and as these companies are punished

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in various criminal and administrative ways their names

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would be released to the public. Who are these companies? Amongst

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them there aren't too many recognisable faces and only really

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one that was foreign-owned. That's right. Yesterday they said of

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the company is one was foreign-owned, a Chinese owned

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company. The other companies, the three we already know, are having

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their licences revoked for their role in the fires. One of them is a

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supplier for the Asian paper company. These companies are

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suppliers for larger companies, but, as you say, an recognisable names. A

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lot of the companies are also Palm oil plantations. One of the

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companies is also a member of the palm oil associations here in

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Indonesia, which is a powerful lobby body. That associations has said it

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will now expel that member. Is there a sense that what the

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government is doing now will make any difference at all when

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fires inevitably start again next year? The president himself has told

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the BBC that it will take three years to fix this problem.

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Forestry experts and environmentalists say they are

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encouraged by these announcements, especially the fact that they are

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revoking a licence. -- licenses. This hasn't happened in previous

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years and there is a sense that this sort of punishment could have some

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effect. But there is also widespread hopelessness in the government and

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yesterday a senior security minister, when I asked him about it,

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said the Indonesian government could not promise that the fires and haze

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would not happen again next year, because he said the fires were an

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entrenched part of Indonesia by. -- life. Of course the haze in

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Indonesia is one of the many issues south-east Asian nations have failed

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to tackle, but at the end of this month it will form a new economic

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community. It will be the world's third largest trading bloc, but will

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it be effective? I spoke to the head of international trade and

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development and asked if the new economic community would help or

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hinder trade. We need corporations to deal with the spillover of

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actions of governments. That's exactly why frameworks matter. So

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that Asian economic communities should move to something that's more

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forceful, that should become agreements that have the force of

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law. In the case of Hades, the environmental consequence of it,

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these have social issues. -- haze. All of these could be addressed

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through the frameworks. Research suggests that even though small and

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medium enterprises make up a huge chunk of South East Asia's economy,

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the AEC won't actually benefit it that much. 90% of all enterprises

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are small, medium enterprises and they actually provide most of the

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private sector employment in any economy in the world. In the case of

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AEC, one of the problems is that the very basic issues of connectivity

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for instance are not really at the level of realisation that they

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should be. Well, the AEC is being formed just as the region's largest

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economy starts to slow down. China is restructuring and that's going to

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affect how its economy grows going forward. How might that in practice

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the region? I think there are many opportunities that come with this.

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-- So there are structural reasons behind it, not least that some of

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the competent evenness of the Chinese economy is being lost

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because of a natural development. They have now higher wages, which

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means that supply chains... Before they used ASEAN for the components

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of some groups and now they will relocate to Asian countries. There

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are opportunities that come with it, but also there is a great deal of

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investment that is looking for would opportunities. Many of them come

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from China itself. The slowdown in growth in China does not mean that

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we have an end, if you like, both to the demand of goods from ASEAN as

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well as the great dynamics of the foreign direct investment from

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China. In other business news, oil prices

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have fallen to levels not seen in more than a decade, surpassing even

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the losers seen during the recession of 2008. Brent crude sank before

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recovering slightly. The global oil supply has driven down prices of

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oil. Shares of Toshiba are falling again

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by nearly 6% this morning, after its dramatic restructuring

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announcement. On Monday the firm said it would cut nearly 7000 jobs

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in its consumer electronics business, still a TV manufacturing

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plant in Indonesia and that it expects record losses of $4.5

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billion in the financial year. Shares fell more than 10% ahead of

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that announcement yesterday. The Australian billionaire James

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Packer has quit the board of casino group Crown Resorts, just four

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months after stepping down as chairman. He owns more than 50% of

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Crown and said he plans to focus on developing new projects in Sydney,

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Melbourne and Las Vegas. The company has faced 18 straight months of

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falling revenues into Chinese territory of Macau, which is the

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world's biggest gambling hub. It used to rake in more than seven

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times the Las Vegas strip each year, but it has been struggling recently

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and facing a growing number of rivals in the

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to cash in on the Asian appetite for gambling. This report from Manila in

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the Philippines. For decades money has been rolling

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into Macau. It has had a near monopoly on the Asian gaming market,

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but the wheel of Fortune appears to have turned. China's slowing economy

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and the crackdown on corruption has scared off mainland gamblers,

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causing casino revenues to plunge. Other countries, like the

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Philippines, are having to reassess their bets on the gaming industry.

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This is a second -- the second of four resorts being built in Manila.

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They comprise of hotels, luxury shop, entertainment and big casinos

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like this. -- luxury shops. The Philippine government hopes to build

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an entertainment hub, similar to the Las Vegas strip. They hope to bring

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in more tourists as well as billions of

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Singapore, Macau and the Philippines hopes to get a slice of that market.

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What competition is stiff. Australia, Cambodia and even Saipan

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have casinos. Japan, South Korea and Vietnam may also legalise casino

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gambling for local citizens. But analysts say attracting rich

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gamblers to the tables will be tough. Basically the Chinese

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highroller players are affected by the antigambling corruption

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crackdown. Despite these headwinds short term, long-term casinos are

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facing rising organisation, the rise in Commonwealth. That's why Asia's

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biggest casino companies are spending nearly $30 billion on new

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building projects across the region. But, given the current climate, it

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makes sense for them to hedge their bets. Any are now chasing tourists

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to offset the loss of wealthy Chinese gamblers.

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much flat this morning and that's before we go.

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much flat this morning and that's really due to low volumes ahead the

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Christmas season coming up this week. And of course we've also got

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the price of Brent crude falling to 11 year lows, which affects

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sentiment somewhat. That's it for this edition of Asia Business

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Report. Thanks for watching. The top stories this hour: The

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prominent Chinese human rights

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