25/05/2016 Asia Business Report

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

Indian conglomerate Tatar steels itself for the sale of its UK

operations. And the preteens producing tobacco, child labour on

Indonesian farms. Welcome to this Wednesday edition

of Asia Business Report. We start with Tatar steel and the

Indian conglomerate will announce its financial results for the first

three months of this year later this Wednesday. They might also reveal

which bidders will continue in the race to buy the company's British

assets, unloading them because of steep losses. What does it mean for

the prospects of Tatar's global business? Our correspondent reports.

This is where Tatar steel began its journey. Central India more than one

century ago. Among the country's oldest steel companies, it grew to

be one of the largest in the world. In 2007 it made a bold move, buying

British factories, including the biggest here in Port Talbot. The

ones to prized possession is now a financial burden. -- once prized.

Tatar steel wants to sell off its entire UK business and hopes to

boost Indian operations. Coming out of loss-making business in the UK

has overall improved profitability and reduced the burden on the

domestic business for Tatar. They have been doing well in the domestic

business. In terms of profitability and the margins. The decisions made

in this building, the headquarters, are not aimed at shrinking part of

the company hurting the bottom line, but also expanding in areas

where there is money to be made. It recently opened up a factory in

eastern India. And while the domestic business is doing well, it

is not without challenges. Domestic demand, we should have picked up, or

expectation of improvement, that has not gone up. But supply is coming

up. Steel companies in India are increasing capacity. And then of

course there is competition from China which has been flooding the

market with cheap steel. Even without its UK business, this Indian

giant has many irons in the fire. In other news: making headlines,

Montserrat has rejected a $62 billion offer from Germany's Bayer.

The American company said it was inadequate but left the door open

for a higher bid. Hugh Grant, CEO of Monsanto, race concerned about

whether a deal will be approved by regulators. The marriage between the

companies would create the biggest agricultural supplier in the world.

Japanese carmaker Toyota says it is joining forces with right hailing at

Uber. That will allow Uber drivers to finance cars with Toyota and

cover payments are through to the earnings -- app. It is the latest

deal between a car maker Andy ridesharing app. The alliance will

go beyond just vehicle sales. Japan's Sony issued weaker than

expected profit forecasts after the earthquake in April halting

production at a key manufacturing facility. The consumer electronics

giant expects a 2% rise in operating profit for the year until March

2017. The 2.57 billion dollars is $1 billion short of what was

forecasted. Huawei is suing Samsung over claims patterns have been

infringed. The Chinese company said it was pursuing the South Korean

rival in two ports, one in California and one in Chengin.

Huawei says its inventions and communications were used in Samsung

phones without permission. It is known as a short and snappy format

limited to 140 characters, but Twitter is about to change all of

that. With images and Twitter handles not counting to the total.

Our correspondent asks Twitter CEO whether this is actually the start

of longer tweets. The concept of brevity, the concept of speed, live

conversation and being able to think something and put it out to the

world instantly, that is what is most important. We are always going

to look for opportunities to make tweets more expressive and really

and able people to say what they want to say. Will they be longer,

like Facebook posting? As long as things are fast and easy and simple

and expressive, we are always going to look at what we can do around the

platform and around tweets. The reluctance to get involved with

Twitter is the sense that in many cases it is not a nice place to be.

More so than other networks. You are seeing abuse and trolling. People

might look at the change and say, the length of the tweet is the least

of your problems, something is wrong with the fabric of Twitter, it

harbours this discourse online. What can you do about that? I don't think

the negativity and a abuse and harassment is unique to Twitter. It

is industrywide and Internet wide. We all need to solve it. We made it

a priority for the company. Have you seen the turnaround you hoped? It

has been a year since coming back. What is your assessment? Things take

time to change and build and I believe that the only thing you can

do is focus on what matters and strengthen it. That is what we are

doing. As the chief executive are you open to Twitter being bought or

is not part of your plan? We are focused on making Twitter and

amazing. Something we want to use everyday. We are an independent

company and we are thriving. We want to continue to build that. If Google

came with a cheque and said we're gonna by you out, would it be

appealing? -- buy. We're focused on building a service. The Twitter CEO

speaking with our correspondent. Some tobacco companies are

purchasing products from farms which employ child workers. The BBC has

found evidence of children working at every stage of the production

process in Indonesia, the fifth-largest producer in the world.

In a report today, Human Rights Watch claims thousands of children

are working in the hazardous industry. Our correspondent reports

from the island of Lombok.. Tobacco grows well here in dry but fertile

soil on the island of Lombok. On the visit to the tobacco fields we found

children working at every stage of the process. With their hands, Tina

is putting chemical fertiliser on the tobacco plants. This is the

first age of the process. The point where children really get involved

is when these leaves and trees become big and then the children

pick the tobacco leaves and take them into the oven to dry.

TRANSLATION: I get headaches. I start coughing and become dizzy when

the drive tobacco comes out of the oven. It is hard to breathe. --

dry. I vomit and I get headaches. From the age of 12 she has been

working on farms that supply to multinational tobacco companies,

including Philip Morris international. Like this farm, he

says lots of children worked for him during the harvest, including his

11-year-old daughter. TRANSLATION: She just gets out the tobacco that

has been dried in the oven. Sometimes she gets sick, sometimes

she doesn't. The smell of the dry tobacco is really strong but it is a

nice spell. It is a very strong smell. When we smell it with

straight away feel dizzy. She doesn't smoke. LAUGHTER.

For people who smoke it is nice but if you don't it gives you a

headache. Symptoms reported are consistent with acute nicotine

poisoning. Given that our working in close proximity with tobacco, it

could be cases of acute nicotine poisoning. Philip Morris

international acknowledge the BBC that there is child labour in their

supply chain. Look, I am a father of three and I grew up in the world

environment, and while I know it is normal that children help on the

family farm, the report is pointing out situations that I as a father

would be very concerned about. We are changing the way we procure

tobacco, with direct contracts allowing us to provide concrete

support, monitoring issues. On one of the direct contract farms that we

were told children are no longer hide it. Tobacco is a dangerous

drug. They get sick. It is dangerous. They get dizzy and

headaches. But this woman says she will be working again in the next

harvest, as she has since she was nine years old. Here is a look at

the Asian markets, currently they are in positive territory with a

rebounding US equity, which had the biggest gain since March, led by

technology stocks and banks. Thank you so much for investing your time

with us. IM Rico Hizon. Goodbye for now. -- I am Rico Hizon.