18/08/2014 Asia Business Report


18/08/2014

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people in custody unnecessarily. Now on BBC News, all the latest

:00:00.:00:00.

business news, live from Singapore with Asia Business Report.

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As Thailand releases its latest economic report card, we look at how

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the nation's bottom line is looking under military rule. And recent data

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shows that India is losing visitor numbers. We find out why.

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Welcome to Asia Business Report. In a moment, we are set to the

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weather Thailand's economy has avoided recession in the first three

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months of this year, which saw political chaos and thousands

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protesting in Bangkok. All eyes are on the second`quarter numbers, when

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the military took control of the country in a coup. Meanwhile, South

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Korea's top carmaker and the world's fourth largest is preparing

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for its 47,000 unionised workers to strike. They voted to take action

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after talks about wages collapsed last week but it is not yet clear

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when they will strike or how long. South Korean car producers face

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regular industrial action by employees but it does not mean they

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are immune to the damage that can be done. What effect could be strike

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have? There will be quite a bit of damage, especially given that Korean

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exports are facing pressure from both the weakening Japanese yen and

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a more competitive environment. If the demands of the union are net or

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even dilutive, the kind of wage growth will have an effect on

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profits. `` is the demands are met even in a diluted form. If they get

:02:06.:02:13.

higher wages, what effect might this have on Korean manufacturing at

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large? Will Korean companies fees `` companies seek cheaper manufacturing

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elsewhere? There is a broader trend of relocating auto manufacturing

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from Korea to China. And US manufacturing rates are becoming

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more competitive with relation to the Korean wage rate. It is likely

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that some of the manufacturing production will be moved to the US,

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especially if that is going to be sold on US soil. One of the world's

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biggest property developers has reported a boost in its first half

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net profit. It follows a downturn in the Chinese housing market. Profit

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rose by 6% to more than $780 million. Staying with China, tens of

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thousands of Volkswagen vehicles will be recalled on the mainland

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because of a problem with their steering systems. The recall will

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affect more than 50,000 vehicles made between 2010 and 2012.

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Volkswagen has a joint arrangement with the Chinese auto manufacturer,

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the FAW Group. Boggs wagon will replace the parts free of charge. ``

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Volkswagen. For a long while India has admitted

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it doesn't get as many foreign visitors as it might expect. Even in

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Asia, it lags behind Taiwan and Indonesia. Despite talk of trying to

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change that, recent data suggest tourist numbers are falling,

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possibly by as much as 30%. What is going on? In Delhi, our

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correspondent tells us more. The fatal gang rape of a young student

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here almost two years ago led to a countrywide protest and was reported

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worldwide, adding to an image that India, and especially Delhi, was

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unsafe for women. The organisation running India's famous monuments

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says since then they have seen a sharp fall in ticket sales to

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foreign tourists. Tourism makes up about 7% of the country's GDP, about

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the same as the IT sector. It is responsible for about 100 million

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jobs. But official data from last year showed the entire country

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attracted fewer than seven million tourists, while cities like London

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and Bangkok attract twice as much. But experts say not enough is being

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invested in making tourism here attractive. There are clear

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infrastructure issues. It is difficult to get to and from

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places. It's poor connectivity between places, lack of quality

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hotel infrastructure. And getting a visa to India isn't the easiest.

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These tourists have chosen India for their holidays. But with competition

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increasing from countries across the region, encouraging more to do the

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same is getting harder. And with an economy that is growing at its

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slowest pace in a decade, India can't afford to lose out on precious

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tourism dollars. Imagine knowing what you wanted to

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do from about the age of eight. Well, Matt Grainger did. He started

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working as a young surfing instructor at 12 before going on to

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study sport at university. Now, he runs one of Australia's most

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successful surf schools on Sydney's Manly Beach. He told the BBC more

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about his operations. When we first started, we only had

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about 15 surfboards and it was me and another guy. And now I have

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about 50 staff in the summertime, in the peak period. We teach people

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from around the world and local kids, who we teach as part of the

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school curriculum as well. It's turned into this really good

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business. Yeah. Who would have thought? At the end of the day, for

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me, surfing is about having fun, getting stoked and big`wave

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adrenaline. Let's have fun! We run four session today at Manly for

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group lessons. Then we have private lessons from when the sun comes up

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until the sun goes down. In winter, we have about 12 staff. You have ot

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have a good service. `` have to. We have all things like TripAdviser

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rating us. It's a big operation in summer. We have other beaches as

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well. I'm lucky because I love teaching surfing. I pretty much

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hand`picked most of my staff and trained them up. We do lower ratios

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for foreigners. Our core business is for foreigners. As we've grown, we

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have taken on local school groups, which we don't charge so much

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because they bring in about 60 kids at once. The seasonal thing is the

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problem because we have this massive... Bang or bust. So many

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customers through summer and business thriving, then pretty much

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we hit winter and we have to hold onto our core staff, keep them in

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the game. Rather than shutting down, we keep going. For the people to

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come and experience the buzz of Manly Beach, sand, surf, blue skies,

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clear water, we make it happen. This is a dream job.

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We have the latest from Thailand on its growth numbers, which are 0.4%

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growth on the year and 3.9% on the quarter. Thank you for joining us.

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Jonathan, Thailand has avoided a technical recession. Is that a

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surprise? It is in line with recent expectations. People have seen an

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increase in confidence and a slight increase in export informants,

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consumer confidence and invested confidence despite the enormous blow

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the economy took in the political turmoil and the coup. Tourism is

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down but at least the trend has reversed. When the authorities got

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the first`quarter numbers, showing a 2% contraction, it was extremely

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discouraging and a very worrying sign full of there were already

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economic problems facing Thailand even before the political turmoil,

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with lagging consumer confidence and higher consumer debt. Now, the trend

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is moving the other way, which will encourage the new military

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government, which is hoping that a high spending budget will be quickly

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dispersed. It has revived the massive infrastructure plans of the

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previous government, adding to a stimulus to keep the economy going,

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getting back to the kind of growth figures we have seen in the past but

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top even with this trend reversal, we are expecting only 1%, 1.5% of

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growth this year. It does suggest that the literary government is for

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now anyway good for the Thai economy. That is difficult to say.

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These figures reflect the second quarter. The coup happened only at

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the end of the second quarter. The new government has made reviving the

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economy and absolute priority but there are still questions about how

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it can handle that. This is the most militarised government in decades

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and they are untested in managing the economy. Thank you. That's it

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for this edition of Asia Business Report. Thanks for watching.

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The top stories this hour: The battle for Iraq's Mosul Dam ` the US

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launches air strikes on Islamic militants. Kurdish troops say they

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have retaken most of the area around the dam.

:10:46.:10:51.

An Ebola quarantine centre has been

:10:52.:10:52.

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