01/05/2014 Asia Business Report


01/05/2014

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she was attacked at Corpus Christi Catholic College. Those are the

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headlines, let's go to Singapore for Asia Business Report.

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As Asia celebrates Labour Day, what is the region need to do to improve

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worker's writes. And, the king of fruit. One of India's key exports is

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being banned in Europe. `` workers' rights.

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Welcome to this edition of Asia Business Report. As I mentioned, it

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is May Day, and many people around the world are taking the day off. It

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is to celebrate the achievement of workers' rights, like an eight`hour

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day. In Asia, experts say there is still much work to do. China has

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faced a rising number of labour disputes, the latest at the biggest

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shoemaker, over security benefits. In Bangladesh, safety came under

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scrutiny after the collapse of the Rana Plaza garments factory. In

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Cambodia, there have been protests calling for a higher minimum wage.

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They pay lip service to these issues, and they can't really do

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much. You hit the nail on the head, you brought up two main issues. One

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is safety standards, and the other is minimum wage. These issues have

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been there in all these countries, and no country is willing to take a

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strong stand and have some minimum wage requirements. They can't

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guarantee workers that they won't end up in a hospital somewhere. You

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can look at this across`the`board, because it is something we are

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seeing in many other countries in the region. Is raising the minimum

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wage possibly one of the best ways to address the issue? It is a

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necessary condition, not sufficient. We know that labour supply is

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affected by many things, if you raise minimum wages people feel more

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secure, they feel they can go home and eat something. Beyond that, what

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is happening, this is a mixture of three players. The capitalist who is

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providing capital, which they want a very high return on, and for that

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high return they want no safety standards, no minimum wages, because

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that gives them low cost of production, and profits that are

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very high. They go to countries that guaranteed no such standards. We are

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seeing wages rising in China, so do you think with wages inevitably

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rising that will put Asia's low manufacturing model at risk? Not

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really, there are a billion people in China. There are lots of places

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you can move manufacturing to. You can move it away from Shanghai,

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inland, and raise the cost of production. They will keep moving,

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they will move to India and other countries. It is a slow`moving

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train, eventually they will move to Africa, which is where the cheapest

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labour will be. I don't think this is going away for the next 20 years,

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it is here to stay. I was just reading, this is a model where

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capitalist want high return, and when it is higher than economic

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growth, you will see inherited wealth outstrip earned wealth, and

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the earned wealth is the labourer. He is not earning as much, and the

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capitalist is earning, so you will keep seeing the divide between the

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capitalist and the labour. There will be a meeting in

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Kazakhstani this week for the Asian development bank's annual meeting.

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We have a strategy that says we want to see the Asia`Pacific region

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eradicate extreme poverty, which is $1.25 per day income. Based on their

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strategy that we have done now, we see the potential to eradicate

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extreme poverty by 2025, five years ahead of the global agenda. It also

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means that we have a lot of challenges ahead of us, like if we

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take to dollar a day poverty, we will still have about 1.6 million

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people to deal with. We are also questioning, as Asia becomes an

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middle income country, whether this indicator of $1.25 per day is

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relevant. US stock soared on Wednesday, with the Dow Jones

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hitting a record high. The Federal Reserve signalled it was more upbeat

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about the world's largest economy. It will keep cutting back its

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monthly stimulus programme, decreasing its assets by 245

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billion, as the fourth straight cut of $10 billion. More signs of

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weakness in China's economy, with less growth than expected. The PMI

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for April edged up slightly, by just 0.1%. Growth was forecast at double

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that number. One country that will be watching China's economy is

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Mongolia. Its boom has been fuelled by foreign investors looking to tap

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into its minerals. But disputes among mining companies and erratic

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production has crippled it. We are trying to make significant

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changes in the legislation area, so that we could become again a

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favourable destination for investors. Countries that have

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experienced sharp economic growth, because of commodities, tend to grow

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very quickly for a short period, and then snap back. How does Mongolia

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deal without? We have quite a large market, China, on our doorstep.

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China's man for up commodities has not yet declined. Pan's two largest

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airlines have reported before. Profits are Japan Airlines have

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slipped 3%, but ANA reported the biggest hit. Higher fuel costs have

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been blamed for the sharp drop. Richard's biggest drugmaker,

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GlaxoSmithKline, had a tough start at the beginning of the year. ``

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Britain's biggest drugmaker. This was following a damaging bribery

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scandal a year ago. About $4 billion worth of food festivals and other

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agricultural products to Europe. The mango has been banned by the EU

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coming from India. This was because of discoveries of shipments infested

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with fruit flies. Across India, tens of thousands of

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people do this job. Picking mangoes is tough work. This is in the short,

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and there are only a few weeks to harvest the fruit and get it to the

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customer. More than half the world's mangoes are grown here in

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India, and at the moment just a small fraction are sent overseas for

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sale. Of those export markets, Europe is one of the most important,

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but now it has a new challenge. Last year, pests like fruit fly, similar

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to these, were founded more than 200 shipments of fruit and vegetable

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sent to Europe from India. Because of the risk they pose to crops, the

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EU has now banned imports of five Indian products, including mangoes.

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For farmers, things are OK for now. Most have contracts for this year,

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but the surplus fruit is a logistical and financial headache

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for wholesalers like this one. It specialises in Alfonso mangoes, the

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so`called King of fruit, and the type most in demand in Europe.

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TRANSLATION: We are hoping that if we can't export to the EU, we will

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find another country to buy them. ABB US or the Gulf. India has a lot

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of buyers. The curse there are so many mangoes, the price in the

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market is already falling fast. `` maybe the US. Figures show that at

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least 5% of Indian produce is affected. For this British importer,

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that is little consolation. It relies on Alfonso mangoes that it

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can sell at a premium to get through quiet months. It has been

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stockpiling, and has started an online petition to try to overturn

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the ruling. Australia, New Zealand, America, Japan, they all allow the

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import of these products, even though they are known to have strong

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borders. The EU should be doing the same, rather than putting a ban in

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place. The fruit here is salty shops around the UK, especially in cities

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with large Indian communities. So, what the customers think about not

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being able to get their Indian mangoes? It would be a shame, we

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look forward to it all year. It would be not good, not having that

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many more. If we can't get them here, I will have to wait to go to

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India to have them. The EU is in talks with authorities, and they say

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the ban can be lifted in time for next year's mango season, if they

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are satisfied. With no immediate prospect of a more immediate

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solution, that is an outcome most Indian mango farmers would happily

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pick. A quick look at the markets. We are

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seeing the Nikkei supported by that record close we saw on Wall Street

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with the Dow Jones, and that is after we saw upbeat sentiment about

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the US economy from the Federal Reserve. All the markets that are

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currently lower. That's Chinese manufacturing data that came out

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earlier was setting a precedent for others.

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Our top stories: Police in Northern Ireland arrest the Sinn Fein

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leader, Gerry Adams. He is being questioned about the murder of a

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woman over 40 years ago. The White House says the botched execution of

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a prisoner in

:10:54.:10:54.

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