:00:00. > :00:16.Now on BBC News, all the latest business news live from Singapore.
:00:17. > :00:26.Betting to be, Ken Agriculture save Australia's economy? -- betting on
:00:27. > :00:36.beef? Can agriculture save Australia's economy. Falling diamond
:00:37. > :00:41.prices. Hello, and welcome to Asia Business Report. I am Sharanjit Leyl
:00:42. > :00:45.in Singapore. Australia's economy is faced with a double whammy, with the
:00:46. > :00:49.end of the mining boom and a dependence on China, the country is
:00:50. > :00:54.facing risks it hasn't seen in more than two decades. The government is
:00:55. > :00:59.pushing agriculture as a new driver of economic growth but will it work?
:01:00. > :01:05.Our Asian business correspondent travelled to the farming region of
:01:06. > :01:11.Toowoomba in Queensland to find out. Carving out a fresh start. This
:01:12. > :01:15.isn't just any old job. It is a lifeline for Scott. He spent 14
:01:16. > :01:20.years of his life here before leaving this job for an oil rig.
:01:21. > :01:25.When oil prices were high his salary doubled in just before Christmas he
:01:26. > :01:30.lost that job, because oil prices crashed and now he is back. I wanted
:01:31. > :01:34.more money, basically. In the oil and gas industry I was promised the
:01:35. > :01:38.chance of moving up and progressing in the company further, and then
:01:39. > :01:42.that went bust so I came back here. The way the company is going here
:01:43. > :01:48.now, I can see it is going to be going very well in the future. So I
:01:49. > :01:52.am happy to have a job. As Asia's middle classes get richer, more of
:01:53. > :01:58.them want what Australia has to sell. Australian beef exports to
:01:59. > :02:03.China hit a record of $655 million last year and showed no signs of
:02:04. > :02:06.slowing. There are more than 50,000 head of cattle in this feedlot
:02:07. > :02:13.alone. And almost half of the meat produced here ends up on plates
:02:14. > :02:17.across Asia. These cows for example are destined for supermarkets in
:02:18. > :02:21.Korea and Taiwan. But it is China, farmers here tell me, where they
:02:22. > :02:25.have seen the biggest demand of increase in orders and enquiries
:02:26. > :02:30.over the last couple of years. But it is not all blue skies and sunny
:02:31. > :02:34.days just yet. Australia's beef sales are only worth about a third
:02:35. > :02:38.of the value of what coal and iron ore into the economy. The government
:02:39. > :02:43.says betting on beef is a long-term strategy. 3 billion people in the
:02:44. > :02:49.coming decades will be in the Asian middle class. You also have rapid
:02:50. > :02:54.rates of urbanisation and continued population growth. And that is going
:02:55. > :02:58.to lead to a greater demand for services like education services,
:02:59. > :03:02.tourism services, health services. So it is going to lead to a greater
:03:03. > :03:05.demand for high-quality agriculture products which Australia is very
:03:06. > :03:12.well known for, as well as high calorie agriculture products like
:03:13. > :03:18.beef. Australia is hitching its fortunes to Asia yet again. First
:03:19. > :03:24.coal and iron, now let us and beef. At Asia is slowing down, and that
:03:25. > :03:30.could hurt farms and feedlot see it -- lettuce and beef. And you can
:03:31. > :03:37.watch more reports on talking business this weekend at these times
:03:38. > :03:42.on BBC World News. In other news, the low commodity and oil prices
:03:43. > :03:50.that we just heard about affecting Australia's economy are actually
:03:51. > :03:53.good news for airlines. Franco Dutch carrier Air France KLM has posted
:03:54. > :04:03.its first profit in four years, cheaper oil reducing the annual fuel
:04:04. > :04:07.bill by almost 7%. US taxi hailing company Uber is losing $1 billion a
:04:08. > :04:17.year in China. It has to compete with a local rival backed by a
:04:18. > :04:23.Chinese technology giant, Tencent and Alibaba. In the Organisation for
:04:24. > :04:29.economic Corporation and development is calling for urgent action to
:04:30. > :04:35.tackle slowing growth. The OECD cut its economic forecast for 2016 x one
:04:36. > :04:39.third of a %, down to 3%. It said trade, investment and wage growth
:04:40. > :04:43.are all too weak and that cutting interest rates and other monetary
:04:44. > :04:47.policy fixes were not sufficient to boost growth. In those concerns over
:04:48. > :04:52.global growth certainly are a headache for Asia's major economies.
:04:53. > :04:55.Confidence that Japanese manufacturers was largely subdued in
:04:56. > :05:01.February with the week outlook for the next months. That comes on the
:05:02. > :05:05.heels of falling export data yesterday and disappointing annual
:05:06. > :05:13.growth figures released earlier in the week. The disappearance of MH370
:05:14. > :05:17.raised many questions, much more questions in fact than answers. And
:05:18. > :05:21.one of the many conspiracy theories was the fact that the plan was
:05:22. > :05:27.so-called cyber jack, or taken over remotely by hackers. But given the
:05:28. > :05:32.advances in aircraft technology, including efforts they can be
:05:33. > :05:36.tracked -- efforts to ensure they can be tracked, is it still a
:05:37. > :05:41.possibility? Cyber security is one of the biggest topics at the airshow
:05:42. > :05:47.currently taking place in Singapore. The search for MH370, one of
:05:48. > :05:53.aviation's is mysteries, has gone on for nearly two years. Experts had
:05:54. > :05:56.dismissed the possibility that the plain's systems were hacked and
:05:57. > :06:00.remotely controlled but some still ask whether it can be done. If
:06:01. > :06:04.someone wanted to take over a commercial plane, there are two
:06:05. > :06:07.major systems they would have to access. The first is a flight
:06:08. > :06:11.control system which is ultimately handled by the pilot. The second
:06:12. > :06:16.major computer system is something called avionics, which looks after
:06:17. > :06:19.the in-flight entertainment such as movies, music and internet
:06:20. > :06:23.streaming. The computer devices for that are usually stored in the back.
:06:24. > :06:27.Both of these systems are maintained separately and they would be hard to
:06:28. > :06:31.access. Multiple people have claimed they have hacked the plan, most
:06:32. > :06:35.recently an American security researcher said he did it through
:06:36. > :06:38.the in-flight entertainment system, and became the subject of an FBI
:06:39. > :06:44.investigation. The industry says it is not possible. You here probably a
:06:45. > :06:50.few of these stories where people say they have done it. -- you hear.
:06:51. > :06:54.I think there are some people who maybe have good imagination is out
:06:55. > :07:00.there. But we don't believe that is possible today for any of these
:07:01. > :07:03.systems. But as we get more and more sophisticated, there could be
:07:04. > :07:07.problems. And so we have to take extra special measures to protect
:07:08. > :07:10.ourselves and our industry to make sure this never happens. And so in
:07:11. > :07:17.the industry we have been working for several years now on very, very
:07:18. > :07:21.strict... Think of it as like a super firewall that will be on-board
:07:22. > :07:27.the aircraft to separate the flight control systems from other passenger
:07:28. > :07:34.internet service, to make sure that there is no unwanted access from
:07:35. > :07:38.someone on the ground into one of those flight control systems. So
:07:39. > :07:43.this is very, very important. I don't believe there is a risk there
:07:44. > :07:47.today but we want to make sure it stays that way. Cyber security is a
:07:48. > :07:51.problem now for every industry. For the aviation sector, whether you are
:07:52. > :07:53.on the ground or in the area, it has become clear that just because it
:07:54. > :08:04.hasn't happened doesn't mean it won't happen. To all that sparkles
:08:05. > :08:12.now, and about 90% of the world's natural diamonds are through the
:08:13. > :08:15.Indian state of Gujarat, where they are cut and polished before being
:08:16. > :08:20.sold in Dubai. Business is suffering due to a worldwide glut. Our
:08:21. > :08:24.correspondent reports from the State capital. India doesn't mind
:08:25. > :08:32.diamonds. But it is estimated nine out of ten diamonds in the world are
:08:33. > :08:37.processed here in Surat. Over the past year China's slowing growth and
:08:38. > :08:41.crackdown on corruption has meant demand for the precious gem has
:08:42. > :08:45.slumped. Prices fell, jobs have been cut and businesses have closed down.
:08:46. > :08:49.This former factory tells the story of what is going on in Surat's
:08:50. > :08:55.diamond industry. For 15 years diamonds were cut and polished ear
:08:56. > :09:00.and it employed upto 35 people. As you can see, the owner has now shut
:09:01. > :09:04.down the workshop. All the jobs I gone, and it is thought that nearly
:09:05. > :09:08.300 similar operations across the city have also gone out of
:09:09. > :09:12.business. Surat face a similar scenario during 2008 during the
:09:13. > :09:16.global financial crisis but back then it didn't take too long for the
:09:17. > :09:21.industry to bounce back. Demand revived within a year, followed by
:09:22. > :09:24.years of big orders which helped businesses like this to flourish.
:09:25. > :09:28.And one of the biggest players here expects the same trend this time
:09:29. > :09:32.around. Last year everybody started reducing their manufacturing. Some
:09:33. > :09:37.of them closed down, the small people. So the whole cycle
:09:38. > :09:41.continued. Now the demand is stable and by the end of the year it should
:09:42. > :09:46.come to its peak points. Sales in the United Bates, the world's
:09:47. > :09:54.largest diamond market, have risen in the last months. There is a risk
:09:55. > :09:58.of becoming too confident too quickly. People here are keeping a
:09:59. > :10:01.close eye on the international market, looking for signs the
:10:02. > :10:09.diamond industry will regain its sparkle. Let's take a look at the
:10:10. > :10:12.markets. They certainly are not sparkling today. All the Asian
:10:13. > :10:17.markets that have opened a mainly lower. They have taken their cues
:10:18. > :10:20.from Wall Street and also due to the fact that oil prices have doubled a
:10:21. > :10:26.bit of a pullback. That is unsettling equity markets, and of
:10:27. > :10:29.course we also saw more of this earlier this week, especially in
:10:30. > :10:34.Australia where the market closed two week just yesterday. That is it
:10:35. > :10:35.for this edition of Asia Business Report. Thank you for