26/05/2016 Asia Business Report

of people needing urgent medical treatment after taking the drugs.

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

How to fix the global economy. G7 leaders start meeting in Japan. And

undercutting the highflyers. Why are Chinese filmmaker is getting into

drones. Good morning, Asia, hello, world. Welcome to this edition of

Asia Business Report. It is a Thursday, I am Rico Hizon. Leaders

from the seven richest nations in the world are set to kick off a 2

day meeting in Ise-Shima in Japan. They will try to tackle some of the

world's most vexing global issues and at the top of their agenda is

breathing life into a sluggish global economy. Earlier I spoke with

the chief economist for Northern Trust, had asked for his

expectations from this G7 summit. One of the things countries can do

individually and collectively to improve growth, there has been a lot

of talk about improving trade relationships, and there are

certainly some politics around the world that suggest trade is not a

good thing. How can we push aside some of the political agendas that

close borders, and keep them open? How can we ensure that countries are

participating fairly in trade which goes into their currency strategy

and how can each country make sure that interest rates are right not

just for them but for the rest of the world? So interconnected, all of

these topics, from currency to interest rates to trade, but do you

think that the Americans and the Japanese will be focusing on

interest rate policy and the Japanese intervening to strengthen

the strength of the yen? The Japanese are certainly arriving at

this meeting very frustrated. They want a weaker currency have found a

stronger one. A currency war is one that no one wins. It is a game where

the best move is not to play. My guess is that the other six

countries at the conference will encourage the Japanese not to

start. Carl Tannenbaum from Northern Trust, based in Chicago. The host

nation of the G7 summit, Japan, has been stuck in slow growth and low

wages for CHEERING decades and is trying to boost consumption through

negative interest rates. That appears to be failing. What lessons

can we learn from Japan? Our correspondent said this report from

Tokyo. This is an apology by a Japanese ice cream firm. The entire

company turned up to make this video, because they raise the price

of ice cream by just 10 yen or 9 cents. TRANSLATION: It is only ten

yen. I know that doesn't sound like very much, but we thought they would

be customers asking why. The ice cream is a national product. That is

why we make this video. So this is the ice cream that the company

apologised for raising the prices. Japanese consumers are not used

seeing prices go up. They have been seen falling prices for the last two

decades now. Falling prices should mean that people will be encouraged

to go out and spend and you are seeing some of that in Japan on

small products like cup noodles, for example, they are only about $2 a

pop and they are not going to break the bank and sales have gone up by

26% in the last three months alone. But here is the problem. Japanese

consumers are happy to spend their money on small products like cup

noodles but they are not spending their cash on big-ticket items like

air-conditioners, cars and motorcycles, which means companies

that make those products, remember, the lifeblood of Japan's economy,

are not growing and so they are not investing, they are not creating

jobs and they are not pushing wages higher. Which is why the central

bank governor did something pretty crazy at the beginning of this year.

He lowered interest rates to below zero to get Japanese countries

spending again. That hasn't worked. Prices are going up slightly but not

as quickly as he would like. He said he could lower rates even more below

zero to get to his target. But if that fails, then saying sorry it may

be the only thing Japan has left. From our Asia business

correspondent, who is currently in Japan. In other business news making

headlines, Alibaba shares slumped overnight in US trade after the

e-commerce giant disclosed that the US market regulator the Securities

and Exchange Commission is looking into the company's accounting

practices. The regulator has requested documents and information

related to the way the Chinese firm adds together earnings from its

various divisions. Alibaba says it is cooperating with the

investigation. A Chinese smartphone maker has entered the camera drone

market. The company has tried to gain market share, but cheaper

versions of other phones, so will it be able to do the same for drones?

This drone here is made by the Chinese company DJI who have quite a

dominant market edition when it comes to camera drones. The Chinese

mobile manufacturer Xiaomi is hoping the rain on their parade a little

bit, taking a similar product but one that is just a little bit

cheaper. I am here with Alvin who runs the drone shop here in

Singapore. What can you tell me about these two drones? How will

they can pack? We are looking at details of the Xiaomi drone, to see

what comes out, and if it is of a good quality and a good standard

then perhaps we will start looking into it. Quality is really important

for us, especially when you are looking at products that are flying.

Drones of course are not very cheap. Is there a space in the

market for something that is a little bit cheaper? I think there

are a lot of folks out there who are wanting to experience drones for the

first time, and there might be some space where people want to try out

the drones as well so there would be people who just don't want to spend

so much money upfront, to have a go at their first road. And for lack of

a better term, DJI has done quite a bit of idiot proofing to make it

more difficult to crash. Are those the kind of things that you would

need in order to get people to use them? Maybe, for example obstacle

avoidance is really a first that DJI has introduced the market. If they

can come up with something immediately, write off the bat and

it working well, then that is something that could help them make

some headway. But again, it depends on the price point. And people might

be willing to pay less for something that might not have so many

features. Thank you. The big question for Xiaomi now is whether

or not is new drone business will take off or whether it will crash.

It is hoping for more space in the market and more space in the skies.

Stock markets that resemble a rollercoaster ride, or government

bonds that yield little, unless you are an expert it is not very easy

making money these days but there is an alternative class of investments

which are not as volatile. The childhood hobby of stamp collecting,

for some, is a very grown-up investment choice. Stamps, we have

different colours, different shapes, that makes the stamp row. Richard

and his brothers used to dig through rubbish bins as children looking for

foreign stamps. Decades later he owns a prize-winning collection

worth millions of dollars. There is investment, yes. Because our passion

for something which I didn't expect to hit the field, and it has

accumulated compared with shares and bonds and other collectables as

well. This is the most prominent printing error from the reign of

Queen Elizabeth. Most of the world's 60 million red stamp

collectors are based in Asia and an increasing number of traditional

investors are looking at the area as well. 12 years ago a portfolio would

consist of bonds, property and maybe some deposits. Nowadays, because of

volatility, people are more and more looking for alternatives like

classic cars, watches, antiques and coins and stamps really fit within

that profile. The beauty of rare stamps and coins is their complete

lack of market correlation. A lot of money has been changing hands. This

19th-century postage stamp, for example, is so rare it has been

nicknamed the Mona Lisa. It sold for a record ?5.6 million at auction.

That is out of reach for most collectors. So what is more readily

available? I have been looking at the Penny Black, which is the

world's first postage stamp entered in 1840 during the reign of Queen

Victoria. It is considered the Holy Grail for stamp collectors and one

of these in mint condition can sell for around ?10,000. A Singapore

collector paid nearly ?500,000 for a set of them. Like any investment

items like stamps come with risks. Aside from being expensive, many are

highly ill-equipped, which means they don't generate any income. If

they are not stored properly the stamps can be damaged, meaning

ultimately their value can stamps can be damaged, meaning

ultimately their value can be as worthless as a piece of paper. Asian

stock markets continued to climb after US equities rose as investors

continued to recover confidence in the health of the global economy.

Thank you for joining us, I am Rico Hizon, goodbye for now.

The top stories this hour: Leaders of the G7 countries kick

off their summit in Japan shortly, with the global economy, terrorism,