08/12/2016 Asia Business Report


08/12/2016

Similar Content

Browse content similar to 08/12/2016. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!

Transcript


LineFromTo

Asian shares rise after a record day on Wall Street but -- with the Dow

:00:13.:00:24.

and S hitting highs yet again. One man's mission to return the green

:00:25.:00:29.

takes root in the citystate. Welcome to this Thursday edition

:00:30.:00:33.

of Asia Business Report. We start off with the markets and

:00:34.:00:45.

for the 12th time since the US presidential election US shares have

:00:46.:00:48.

surged to their highest levels overnight. Let's show you the

:00:49.:00:53.

numbers. The Dow Jones industrial average in gaining 1.6%. And the SNP

:00:54.:01:05.

market up into record territory. Asian shares all in positive

:01:06.:01:08.

territory. Japan, Hong Kong and Australia. While investors have

:01:09.:01:13.

cheered what Donald Trump is expected to announce when he takes

:01:14.:01:17.

office, what will the impact be on Asia and the economies? I put the

:01:18.:01:27.

question to an member of Scotabank. There is a lot of uncertainty about

:01:28.:01:31.

the policies he will implement and focus on, but assuming we don't get

:01:32.:01:35.

any major protectionist policies then we will see a pickup in Asia

:01:36.:01:40.

simply because advanced economies will likely pick up. At the same

:01:41.:01:46.

time, of course, if we do see protectionist policies implemented,

:01:47.:01:50.

then that may work as a push for deeper intraregional trade and

:01:51.:01:55.

integration. What major business deals between Asia and the United

:01:56.:02:02.

States basically eased the rat of Trump in Asia? For example,

:02:03.:02:09.

Softbank's founder promised $50 billion in investment in the United

:02:10.:02:13.

States, which will create 50,000 jobs. I think there is potential

:02:14.:02:20.

for, like I say, deeper intraregional integration and China

:02:21.:02:24.

will play a key role in that, driving any trade deals here.

:02:25.:02:28.

Indeed, China, which is the second largest economy in the world, and we

:02:29.:02:32.

have so many of them here in the region, Japan, Korea and India. So,

:02:33.:02:37.

will the mainland lead the way right now for Asia if the US is bumped? I

:02:38.:02:45.

think so. China definitely plays a key role in the region but there are

:02:46.:02:50.

other countries, for example India that will have a significant role in

:02:51.:02:53.

the coming economic growth prospects. And that was Tuuli

:02:54.:02:58.

McCully Thomas senior international economist at Scotabank. Well, in

:02:59.:03:05.

other news making headlines, Sony is joining the mobile market, unveiling

:03:06.:03:11.

fee iconic PlayStation titles in spring, following the success of

:03:12.:03:18.

Pokemon Go when India's Tata Steel put the sale of the company up in

:03:19.:03:24.

March, unions and management have managed to end the uncertainty. The

:03:25.:03:30.

agreement will be voted on. Our correspondent reports.

:03:31.:03:34.

It has been a dark year for the workforce at Port Talbot. As dawn

:03:35.:03:37.

broke over the plant this morning there was a glimmer of hope that a

:03:38.:03:41.

more certain future could be on the horizon. The blast furnaces have

:03:42.:03:46.

kept on working, but no one knew for how long. Prospective buyers were

:03:47.:03:52.

unwilling to take on the liability of the company's pensions scheme.

:03:53.:03:56.

Today's announcement comes after months of negotiations between the

:03:57.:04:00.

company and union representatives. So, what is the proposal that unions

:04:01.:04:05.

will take to their members? There is a commitment by the company to

:04:06.:04:09.

running the two blast furnaces at Port Talbot for at least five years.

:04:10.:04:12.

A 10-year ?1 billion investment plan. A commitment to try to avoid

:04:13.:04:18.

compulsory redundancies for at least five years. But Tata will consult on

:04:19.:04:26.

replacing the pension plan with a defined contribution scheme. Yes,

:04:27.:04:33.

there is a question and the workforce will make the decision

:04:34.:04:36.

whether to accept this but at the end of the day Tata is saying there

:04:37.:04:40.

is no where they can support British Steel pension and future investment

:04:41.:04:46.

needed -- no way. Chris James is just about to go on shift. He is

:04:47.:04:50.

taking in today's news. The fact we have got five years now pretty much

:04:51.:04:54.

guaranteed here, that is very good news. Billion pounds of investment

:04:55.:04:58.

in the next ten years, that is really good news as well. Pension

:04:59.:05:02.

doesn't affect me so much because I haven't been here so long but some

:05:03.:05:07.

of the boys have 25 years, 30 years, planning to retire at a certain

:05:08.:05:11.

time, they will have to find out the details on what is involved if the

:05:12.:05:15.

scheme closes. Workers will have a lot to consider over the coming

:05:16.:05:20.

weeks. Tata, in effect, have made a U-turn. You will recognise that it

:05:21.:05:25.

has been an extremely difficult time for Tata Steel in terms of financial

:05:26.:05:33.

performance last year. And, since then, many things have changed. One

:05:34.:05:37.

is that there is a transformation plan that have started working. The

:05:38.:05:41.

uncertainty has been felt by the local community too. People have

:05:42.:05:45.

built businesses and their livelihoods around the plant. It is

:05:46.:05:50.

not just the steelworks, the contractors are going, like myself,

:05:51.:05:56.

the contractors and the steel company. Tata's annual Christmas

:05:57.:06:00.

party for workers and their families went ahead as usual last night.

:06:01.:06:05.

Families here have now been given an offer of security, but there will be

:06:06.:06:11.

a price to pay. Apple's iPhones have brought strong

:06:12.:06:15.

numbers for the company according to latest research. Yep, that is it,

:06:16.:06:21.

the iPhone 7, which critics said didn't have a lot of surprising

:06:22.:06:25.

features and innovation, but Apple has taken advantage of the Samsung

:06:26.:06:36.

recall of the Galaxy Note 7. But the Shanghai consumer council has set a

:06:37.:06:39.

people have complained their iPhone has burst into flames. The company

:06:40.:06:43.

blames external physical damage. I asked the host of Tech360.tv how

:06:44.:06:52.

serious this is. Eight phones in China. How big a deal is it? Apple

:06:53.:06:57.

is quiet on it. That has been their strategy for a long time. Compare

:06:58.:07:01.

that to what happened with Samsung, the first phone exploded in China,

:07:02.:07:05.

followed by explosions in the United States. Could this be political,

:07:06.:07:10.

Tim, because we haven't seen footage of these apple iPhone 7 is exploding

:07:11.:07:14.

in China? Exactly, well, when the Mac -- Note 7 exploited, we saw the

:07:15.:07:23.

same thing. Is it political? Apple has big competition in China. I

:07:24.:07:31.

think it is as recent as may or Q2 when phone sales went down. With

:07:32.:07:35.

Donald Trump wanting to bring back jobs to the United States, than

:07:36.:07:39.

Apple could be made in the US, briefly? I did speak to the

:07:40.:07:43.

president of the consumer technology association in the United States and

:07:44.:07:47.

he said that will be a dumb move because it will make phones cost as

:07:48.:07:51.

much as a car. Singapore is a tiny Metropolitan

:07:52.:07:54.

island importing 90% of fruit and vegetables. Spare land is scarce but

:07:55.:08:00.

urban farming is taking root. In this week's taste of Asia series we

:08:01.:08:04.

meet a man who has been sowing the seeds of change by championing small

:08:05.:08:08.

rooftop farms and traditional local produce for the last four years.

:08:09.:08:17.

I didn't know anything about food farming because growing up in

:08:18.:08:22.

Singapore, where there is not many farms, and I thought it was a very

:08:23.:08:26.

necessary skill for survival, growing your own food and eating it,

:08:27.:08:31.

so I went on a discovery journey for two years, working on farms in the

:08:32.:08:34.

UK and Spain and Japan. We went to these open spaces in an

:08:35.:09:00.

urban setting, started a far - the community started getting around it.

:09:01.:09:04.

There is a big disconnect between urbanites and nature, nature in

:09:05.:09:08.

general, or farming, and where the source of food comes from. We have

:09:09.:09:16.

the opportunity to find these older farmers that have actually a lot of

:09:17.:09:20.

knowledge on what can be eaten in the tropical setting, and we started

:09:21.:09:28.

to revive some of these species by growing, mass growing them in all

:09:29.:09:36.

these rooftop farms. This is the Okinawan spinach, which can be

:09:37.:09:39.

substituted for other vegetables to be bought in the store, it is native

:09:40.:09:43.

to the tropical region and grows easily as a perennial as a perfect

:09:44.:09:46.

crop for long-term sustainability. Well, making space here in Singapore

:09:47.:10:19.

for fruit and vegetable produce. Thank you so much for joining us.

:10:20.:10:24.

I'm Rico Hizon in Singapore. Sport Today is coming up next. Bye for

:10:25.:10:27.

now. Yes, Sport Today coming up in a

:10:28.:10:43.

moment, but first let's bring you up-to-date with some of our Main

:10:44.:10:45.

stories. Rebels

:10:46.:10:46.

call for a ceasefire after Syria's

:10:47.:10:49.

Download Subtitles

SRT

ASS