Business News Asia

Summary of latest news from around Asia:

CHINA LOOK TO CHANGE LABOUR LAWS

China aims to ensure workers hired through labour contracting agents get the same treatment as directly hired employees, according to a draft bill considered by lawmakers Monday.

The draft amendment to the Labour Contract Law is undergoing a second reading at a five-day bimonthly session of the National People's Congress Standing Committee, or the legislature. In China, some organizations employ a number of leased employees via labor leasing agents, but do not sign contracts with these workers or give them fair pay and welfare, even though they have been working with them for a number of years.

Pudong, Shanghai

SHANGHAI’S NEW UNIVERSITY

Officials in Shanghai have held a cornerstone-laying ceremony for the city's ShanghaiTech University project, being built in the Pudong Science and Technology Park of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Yin Jie, deputy director of the Shanghai Education Committee, said: "The university will act as a dynamic hub where research, education and innovation will meet to provide a multi-disciplinary approach to learning about, and solving problems facing society," said Yin.

Yin said the university, covering an area of about 84 hectares, is designed to be small with its four colleges expecting to have 800 professional teachers from overseas institutions and CAS providing courses on material, life, information and management sciences.

SINGAPORE COFFEE OUTLET TO EXPAND

Klassno is expanding its retail outreach in Bahrain through partnership with local distributor Babasons.

Singapore owned Klassno, which is one of the holding's leading coffee brands, is currently available across over 110 stores in the country.

The brand is keen to redefine the concept of coffee making and drinking in the Middle East as it expands across Bahrain, said Food Empire Middle East country manager Abhishek Gupta. "We have experienced a great demand for our products from coffee lovers from across the country," he said.

TOKYO STAR BANK IN TAKEOVER TALKS

Taiwan's Chinatrust Commercial Bank is in talks to buy the regional Tokyo Star Bank for about ¥50 billion in what would be the first acquisition of a Japanese bank by a foreign lender.

Aiming to expand financial transactions in Japan, Taipei-based Chinatrust hopes to acquire nearly all of the common shares of Tokyo Star from its shareholders, including U.S. private equity group Lone Star, Japanese lender Shinsei Bank and French financial giant Credit Agricole, informed sources said.

Sources: China Daily, Japan Times, Gulf Daily News

Russian East Asia Pipeline Open for Business

Without too much fanfare Russia have just completed a very ambitious pipeline to East Asia. This has an impact on the EU as it signals Russia’s new world view which has a Pacific focus. The 21^st Century may be the Pacific Century and the USA and China are always mentioned, but everyone seems to forget Russia and her vast Pacific coastline.

Russian President Vladimir Putin commissioned the pipeline Tuesday with the completion of the 4,740 km-long (2,945 miles) East Siberia - Pacific Ocean (ESPO) section, which runs between the Siberian city of Skovorodino and the Pacific port of Kosmino.

The new section will "considerably increase the infrastructure capacity of the regions in Russia's far east," said Putin in a televised address. He called the commissioning a "significant event." The $25 billion (around 20 billion euros) pipeline carries some 30 million tons of oil annually, and is set to raise its output to 50 million tons per year.

Source: The Local (Germany)

Business News - Asia

Here is a round-up of some of the latest Business stories of interest from around the major players in Asia.

SINGAPORE: Source: Business Times

SINGAPORE OUTPUT UP

Singapore's factory output probably rose in November from a year earlier when regional manufacturing supply chains were disrupted by floods in Thailand.

But the sector remains weak, with little growth expected on a month-on-month basis, amid continued weakness in Western economies that has crimped demand for Singapore-made electronic component and products. Singapore exports most of what it produces and its trade is three times gross domestic product.

SOUTH KOREA: Source: The Korean Herald

PRESIDENT ASKS BIG FIRMS TO AVOID LAYOFFS

President-elect Park Geun-hye has spoked out to ask firms to avoid redundancies. She also called on  owners to take self-reform measures and cooperate with her economic policy aimed at boosting fairness and transparency in the market and increasing welfare for low-income citizens.

“I will actively support investment aimed at creating future growth engines and jobs. I urge large conglomerates to change your ways as well,” Park said during her meeting with the representatives of large businesses at the Federation of Korean Industries.

KORAIL SAFETY QUESTIONED

Local passengers raised their eyebrows when the state-run railway operator Korail claimed the safety and on-time operation of its trains as global No. 1 in a report submitted for evaluation in June.

At the time, Korail was suffering from public condemnation after a series of frequent breakdowns and delayed schedules of the nation’s KTX bullet trains. Korail explained that it had cited official data from the International Union of Railways, or UIC, and then the agency was designated as one of the best state-owned companies of the year.

JAPAN: Source: Japan Times

HALAL FOODS ON THE RISE IN JAPAN

According to the U.S. Halal Association, the total global Muslim population is estimated at 1.6 billion, or around 25 percent of the world's population, with the $632 billion halal food market accounting for 16 percent of the global food industry.

The number of visitors to Japan from Indonesia, home to the biggest Muslim population in the world, as well as from Malaysia, where about 60 percent of the population is Muslim, jumped between 2003 and 2010, according to the Japan National Tourism Organization. The JNTO says the number of Muslim travelers to Japan is generally on the rise, although official data on Muslims are not available.

Seeing it as a business opportunity, some Japanese nonprofit organizations as well as private firms have started offering services assisting Japanese businesses to obtain halal accreditation.

JAPAN AND BURMA TO BUILD INDUSTRAIL ZONE

Myanmar and Japan agreed to start work next year on a huge industrial zone near Yangon, officials from the two countries said, as the impoverished nation hungrily eyes foreign investment. The 2,400-hectare Thilawa project will include a port and industrial park and be up and running in 2015, according to the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.

Former junta-ruled Myanmar craves investment to spur growth and boost its dilapidated infrastructure, while export-reliant Japan is hunting new opportunities in the resource-rich nation to offset sluggish domestic growth.

MALAYSIA: Source: Business Times

MALAYSIAN AIRLINES BUYS 36 NEW PLANES FOR ITS FLEET

Malaysia Airlines has purchased 36 new ATR 72-600 aircraft worth RM3 billion. Malaysian Airlines (MAS) and French-Italian aircraft manufacturer ATR inked a memorandum of understanding (MoU) yesterday on the purchase of the turboprop planes.

Of the total ordered, Firefly will take on 20 aircraft, while 16 will be introduced into the fleet of its sister company MASwings.

MAS chief executive Ahmad Jauhari Yahya said MAS wants to do more, in terms of turboprop operations, and is looking at expanding Firefly's operations out of Peninsular Malaysia into regional routes such in Indonesia, Thailand and Singapore, as well as increasing the frequency of its domestic routes.

CHINA: Source: China Daily

MILD REFORM URGED IN BEIJING

More than 70 prominent Chinese scholars and lawyers have urged the country's new Communist Party leaders to undertake moderate political reforms including separating the party from government, though they avoid any mention of ending one-party rule.

The petition drafted by Peking University law professor Zhang Qianfan calls on the party to rule according to the constitution, protect freedom of speech, encourage private enterprise and allow for an independent judicial system. It also calls for the people to be able to elect their own representatives without interference from the Communist Party.

WAGES INCREASE AND THE STRONGER YUAN MEANS LESS HIRING

The manufacturing industry's demand for new employees shrunk by more than 20 percent year-on-year in the first three quarters of this year, according to a recent survey released by the Seebon Human Resources Research Institute.

Among industries, shipping showed the greatest hiring demand, as the need for more employees in transportation, warehousing and postal services increased steadily in the first nine months of 2012, the report said. Contributing to that result has been the success of e-commerce and the ever-tenser competition among online shopping malls. Industrial restructuring has also led to the disparities in hiring demand, said analysts at the Seebon Human Resources Research Institute.

The survey also said the reduction in job opportunities has resulted in part from the international market's declining interest in products manufactured in China, and the greater number of robots now performing jobs formerly done by people.

INDIA: Source: Reuters

KINGFISHER STILL GROUNDED

Kingfisher Airlines has failed to present regulators with a clear funding plan under a proposal to get it flying again, the country's aviation minister said on Wednesday.

The airline, owned by liquor tycoon Vijay Mallya and suspended in October over unpaid debts and salaries, submitted a plan on Monday to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to resume a limited service. According to local media reports, Kingfisher's parent company, UB Group, offered to inject 6.5 billion rupees ($118.3 million) into the carrier - a key condition for getting it airborne again.

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Corporate Social Responsibility in Asia

Corporate Social Responsibility conference for Asia was held this year in Bejing.

The summit had the following aims:

- Greater emphasis by the government to regulate CSR. A growing number of laws and regulations contain CSR elements and requirements


- Rising popularity of social media. This has facilitated public discussion on social and environmental issues

- Stakeholder expectations are increasingly sophisticated and clearly articulated

- Rising employee expectations. A new generation of employees knows its rights and expects them to be met

- Greater awareness of business impact on the environment

- Expanding awareness by consumers of their rights


For more information please visit the website:
http://csr-asia.com/summit2012/index.php