How difficult is it to completely monopolize the supply of a raw material?

In the case of hops, there is no doubt that this is a niche crop, and few people outside of the industry will even know about it. Today, Jiagu is more than the world's hop production, but it is still difficult to monopolize it.

A lot of times, it's not a question of money or not.

For example, Kaya was planning to acquire Yakima Hops or United Hops, a leader in the U.S. hops industry, and United Hops Inc., a leading hop supplier to the craft beer industry.

But both companies are owned by American hop grower families, and Yakima Hops also holds a partial stake in United Hops. In short, the two are one, providing a seamless connection between growers and brewers, delivering high-quality hop products to brewers around the world.

But this was before.

——After both companies rejected Jiagu International's acquisition or shareholding, they ushered in what may be the worst losses in history. The foundation of the U.S. hop industry has been ruined by someone's blows.

This is true in the United States, not to mention the xenophobia of Europe, which is also one of the largest producers of hops.

After making waves in the three northwestern states of the United States, Qi Zheng turned his attention to Australia and New Zealand, which have become emerging powers on the hop map in recent years.

Although the hop cultivation work in both countries started late, they have successfully cultivated a variety of new hops with strong aromas. More conveniently, because of the late start, the hop industry in both countries needs the support and help of beer giants to fight for a larger market share.

In this case, Qingyuan Beer, which is backed by one of the world's largest beer consumption markets and has begun to emerge in the international market, extended an olive branch to it, and the two sides simply hit it off.

By the time Qi Zheng arrived in Australia, Jiagu International had already acquired two hop sellers in New Zealand and took stakes in a number of hop plantations in Australia and New Zealand.

"So, what share of the global hop trade can we control or influence?" Qi Zheng admired Zhong Huazhi, the head of Jiagu International, for his efficiency as always, and then asked.

"Including China, which has an absolute monopoly advantage, there is about 15% of the market share, but if it is subdivided into special aroma hops, the share will rise to about 25%. ”

Qi Zheng silently calculated, after the "bad news" of the hop industry in the United States, coupled with the hop plantations that are expanding in China, this market share will inevitably rise. In this way, the share of hop supply that Jiagu can control is considerable.

When the control share of a certain raw material reaches more than 30%, it can be said that it has a certain pricing power - of course, this pricing power is not simply to see how much revenue can be made, but Qingyuan Beer in the Jiagu system can take advantage of this to grasp more initiative.

Of course, the most important purpose of Qi Zheng and Zhong Huazhi, the two group bigwigs, gathering in Australia, is not for the small category of hops.

Following the acquisition of Australian sugar, Jiagu International has a new "prey" in Australia!

"The merger and acquisition project of Australian Amode Grain Company is progressing smoothly, Emode Grain Company includes 12,000 grain collection points, 2 million tons of storage equipment, the highest grain trade volume of a year is more than 6 million tons, and the normal is more than 4 million tons, and its main grain trade is high-quality barley, sorghum, rapeseed ......" Zhong Huazhi first reported the good news.

Once born and twice matured, Australia has become one of the important overseas layout points of Jiagu International. Jiagu International continues to look for M&A targets in Australia to expand the international trade of grain.

Almod Grain Company is not a strong grain merchant, and the overall purchase price is less than 500 million US dollars, but it is a good reinforcement for Jiagu International's grain trade channel in Australia.

Qi Zheng tilted his head: "The Australian government has approved it?"

Zhong Huazhi pouted: "They can't wait to raise their hands and feet in agreement......"

At the end of the day, it's about the varieties traded by the Alter Grain Company.

"Almod exports 70 percent of its barley, of which 30 percent is malting barley. Although the global climate is getting warmer, barley yields are on the trend of decreasing. But for now, there is a surplus of barley production in the world. "Whether it's feed barley or malting barley, the overall oversupply has led to extremely fierce competition. ”

In particular, Canada, which is currently the second-largest exporter of barley to China, is trying to take a larger share from Australia, the largest exporter of barley to China.

"We have the largest beer producer in the country, and we also have one of the best breeding enterprises in the country, and the Australian government will be stupid to embarrass our investment in Australian barley exports. ”

Qi Zheng nodded, and then asked about another project: "What about the progress of the investment in CBH?"

At this moment, Zhong Huazhi smiled bitterly: "It's still a stalemate......"

With a history of more than 70 years, CBH is Australia's largest grain exporter and a global grain trader, receiving, evaluating, storing, shipping and selling 8 million to 16 million tonnes of grain annually from farmers in Western Australia......

Jiagu International intends to spend a huge amount of money to buy a 25% stake in CBH and control the source of Australian barley and wheat through joint operation.

CBH is also interested in financing, but the problem is that there is a large gap between its quotation and the price of Jiagu International.

"We think CBH's reasonable market capitalisation is around $2.5 billion, but the CBH board values itself at $3.6 billion, which is a difference of more than $200 million when converted to a 25% stake......

If you want to say that Jiagu is short of 200 million Australian dollars?

But what made Zhong Huazhi angry was CBH's sky-high asking price, and he refused to bargain.

Zhong Huazhi knows that this is the sequelae of Jiagu International's acquisition of Australian sugar in Australia less than two years ago, and it has made a lot of profits - some interest groups do not want to be wronged anymore, but want to treat Jiagu International as a wronged leader.

Qi Zheng pondered for a moment and said decisively: "You can invest according to their stock price, but you have to sell the barley malting plant under CBH to us separately." ”

Qi Zheng raised his hand to stop Zhong Huazhi's rebuttal: "I know that this is the wronged leader, but what I fancy is the ...... of CBH's warehousing and logistics network in Australia."

Don't look at the breweries of the Jiagu system that are beginning to blossom all over Asia, but to really have an impact on the food in the upstream of the industrial chain, you can't just rely on processing capacity.

-- The reason why the four major grain merchants of ABCD are able to exert greater influence in the international grain market is mainly due to the huge storage and logistics facilities in the main grain producing areas of soybeans and corn in North and South America, and most of the farmers and farms in these countries and regions sell soybeans and corn to the four major grain merchants when they are harvested, so that they can occupy a dominant position in the spot market of agricultural products, so they are more likely to play the role of price setters in the international market, and Chinese companies are often the price recipients.

The nightmare for international grain traders is not the breweries and other grain processing systems that are being built or acquired in full swing, but the grain merchants with their own storage and logistics channels, such as Australian Sugar, Almod Grain Company and CBH, which Jiagu planted and purchased in the Far East......

——This year's Jiagu Group's influence on international sugar prices can be seen!

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