:00:00. > :00:15.Now on BBC News all the latest business news live from Singapore.
:00:16. > :00:23.Steeling themselves for more bad news. The world steelmaker produces
:00:24. > :00:28.Bale to stop the curve of production. And it is not the only
:00:29. > :00:40.commodity that is heading south, with oil prices. Good morning Asia
:00:41. > :00:43.and hello world. It is a Tuesday and I am glad that you could join us for
:00:44. > :00:48.this edition of Asia Business Report. We start off with steel and
:00:49. > :00:53.the world's major producers have failed to agree to measures that
:00:54. > :00:56.will tackle global overproduction. It is cause a collapse in prices and
:00:57. > :01:01.ministers and trade officials from over 30 countries met in Belgium to
:01:02. > :01:07.tackle this issue. They concluded early that it had to be dealt with
:01:08. > :01:15.in a swift and structural ways. What are the major sticking point. The
:01:16. > :01:19.point of this day of talks was trying to agree an international
:01:20. > :01:24.approach to tackling the crisis, which is affecting the steel
:01:25. > :01:27.industry. Accommodation of overcapacity and falling demand has
:01:28. > :01:31.caused prices to plummet and it has cost thousands of jobs across the
:01:32. > :01:35.world. This is why representatives from 34 countries, between them,
:01:36. > :01:38.represent more than 90% of the world's steel production and they've
:01:39. > :01:45.met here in Brussels to seek a solution. There were hopes that they
:01:46. > :01:49.would try to curb excess production. Things like limiting the role of
:01:50. > :01:51.government in subsidising steelmaking facilities which
:01:52. > :01:56.produced material beyond the market demand. But after a full day of
:01:57. > :01:58.talks there is been no formal consensus and it is understood that
:01:59. > :02:02.the Chinese delegation opposed any formal agreement. Officials from
:02:03. > :02:06.China said that they recognise that this steel crisis was a global
:02:07. > :02:11.problem which required a global solution. In China they were already
:02:12. > :02:17.taking measures to curb excess production. The OECD's Deputy
:02:18. > :02:21.Secretary General said they wanted more concrete measures but this was
:02:22. > :02:28.a complex problem. The OECD will meet tomorrow to continue
:02:29. > :02:31.discussion. The Chinese delegation has suggested that the mainland is
:02:32. > :02:36.to blame for overproduction and the trade minister says that China may
:02:37. > :02:40.be the world perfect largest producer but it is also the biggest
:02:41. > :02:43.consumer. It as most of what the mainland produces is for the
:02:44. > :02:54.domestic market and they have already been made to production
:02:55. > :02:58.cuts. The Chinese government has a very firm resolve to deal with the
:02:59. > :03:01.steel undercapacity challenge. We've already adopted powerful measures to
:03:02. > :03:07.this and and I can say that we have already achieved good results. We
:03:08. > :03:10.have already cut 90 million tons of production in the sector and the
:03:11. > :03:15.government has set for the new target, according to which, in the
:03:16. > :03:21.next five years we could reach capacity. That is only 10 million
:03:22. > :03:24.times smaller than the total production capacity here in the
:03:25. > :03:28.European Union. While still producing countries are blocking
:03:29. > :03:37.head against the cuts, this world's second largest iron or or producer
:03:38. > :03:47.are saying that the mines will produce between 330 -340 million
:03:48. > :03:50.tons. That boasted an 11% hike in first-quarter shipments and
:03:51. > :03:59.confirmed it is on track for a record 300 and in million tons in
:04:00. > :04:02.2016. All prices have continued to fall when the world's leading
:04:03. > :04:09.exporters failed to cut output. Will it continue? Earlier IRC is a senior
:04:10. > :04:13.oil trader and said that it is not surprising that prices fell after
:04:14. > :04:18.producers felt to produce an agreement. They could fall even
:04:19. > :04:22.further. Generally when those expectations are met, we typically
:04:23. > :04:27.see an unwind of the speculative position. We did see part of them
:04:28. > :04:31.fall yesterday and that was primarily the reason for the big
:04:32. > :04:34.sell-off. But they still labouring positions on the market that we
:04:35. > :04:40.could lay their a further collapse. The bottom line is both that Russia
:04:41. > :04:43.and Saudi Arabia, the main players in this week in negotiations,
:04:44. > :04:51.running at near record levels already. That is correct. That was
:04:52. > :04:56.on the trader 's minds as well. Would oil prices go to that specific
:04:57. > :04:59.fact? Because it was particular high in production, it is unlikely that
:05:00. > :05:05.the continuation of the oil rally was going to go forward. Bowl with
:05:06. > :05:10.the depressed prices of oil, we just cannot blame the Saudi Arabians and
:05:11. > :05:13.the negotiations have failed over the weekend. Those prices also fell
:05:14. > :05:19.because of the production of the United States of Shell oil. Should
:05:20. > :05:29.they have been included in the negotiations? That is a very sticky
:05:30. > :05:32.point. I think it would be prudent to have the US capable of discussing
:05:33. > :05:36.this difficult situation and bringing them on board because of
:05:37. > :05:40.the geographic differences in the make-up differences of the countries
:05:41. > :05:44.that produce Shell oil. It is of little bit difficult to get
:05:45. > :05:47.everybody to the table. With no agreement between the Russians and
:05:48. > :05:55.the Saudi Arabians, are negotiations over and done with? I think we're
:05:56. > :05:59.going to continue hearing rhetoric that there is going to be some type
:06:00. > :06:03.of agreement. I think based on that we're going to hear and see oil
:06:04. > :06:07.prices confirmed over the short-term. Will not see huge
:06:08. > :06:10.collapse in the price that there will be built at expectations that
:06:11. > :06:16.some type of production freeze agreement and some other form... And
:06:17. > :06:20.where is the floor of all prices down? I think that we can
:06:21. > :06:30.conclusively say that they are 30 dollars. Despite the growing concern
:06:31. > :06:34.for the appetite for making in Asia, and you survey has found that
:06:35. > :06:39.there has been a shift in merger and acquisition strategy. In
:06:40. > :06:42.Asia-Pacific companies prefer to buy locally with firms sticking to their
:06:43. > :06:49.areas of expertise. Earlier I spoke with a man who was an expert based
:06:50. > :06:54.in Beijing. She says that we could see more deals involving certain
:06:55. > :07:01.company. Last year was a big deal for major deal. This year I expect
:07:02. > :07:05.to see a continuation of deal flow but it will be a larger number of
:07:06. > :07:08.deals and smaller deal sizes. Award is very interesting is that the
:07:09. > :07:14.activity is centred around Asia-Pacific. Asia-Pacific is not
:07:15. > :07:18.just consider to be an mergers and acquisition destination. We're
:07:19. > :07:23.seeing Chinese bidders at the table, the continuation of Japanese, South
:07:24. > :07:27.Koreans and as well as government companies in Malaysia and Singapore.
:07:28. > :07:32.The identity of the bidder is changing and moving east. So which
:07:33. > :07:38.particular sectors that these deals being made in? Globally we are
:07:39. > :07:50.seeing it in the technology, energy and input of the sexes. --
:07:51. > :07:55.infrastructure sectors. It is interesting when you consider where
:07:56. > :08:13.is the inspiration for the less than. It is a destination for
:08:14. > :08:17.mergers and acquisitions. Last year more than a thousand mobile phones
:08:18. > :08:22.were launched in India and the vast majority of those smartphones with
:08:23. > :08:26.some costing as little as $50. India is one of the fastest growing
:08:27. > :08:30.markets in the world and unsurprisingly this is attracting
:08:31. > :08:31.manufacturers in droves. Had as a consumer choose a product when there
:08:32. > :09:15.is so much choice? I look for the camera, and the front
:09:16. > :09:19.camera. I will go for the features as opposed to the price. If it works
:09:20. > :09:41.for the price I will definitely use it.
:09:42. > :09:47.I think software is the real differentiator. And that is why the
:09:48. > :09:52.whole philosophy of us being able to deliver a new phone experience every
:09:53. > :10:09.month, by the means of software update is
:10:10. > :10:15.And before we got here is a quick look at the market and as you can
:10:16. > :10:23.see there are simply gains in the Asian indices which are up by 3.3%.
:10:24. > :10:31.The hand saying index is about to open in 50 minutes time. This is
:10:32. > :10:33.after the Dow Jones finished up for