Zhong Huazhi came to the headquarters of Chengxi Group in Lu Province as promised and met Chairman Shao.

Although Zhong Huazhi is only the person in charge of a subsidiary of Jiagu, Chairman Shao of Chengxi Group receives him as an equal.

In terms of business scale, Jiagu International, which undertakes the import and export trade of the Jiagu system, can be called the largest soybean importer in China in terms of soybeans alone, and it imported more than 10 million tons of soybeans from the Russian Far East last year.

Although Chengxi Group is the second largest soybean importer after Jiagu International, and its import volume exceeds that of the two major oil processing companies, Yihai Kerry and Guoliang Group, the soybean import volume last year was only more than 6 million tons, which is not the same order of magnitude as Jiagu International at all.

Of course, what he was more curious about was Zhong Huazhi's intention.

Zhong Huazhi got straight to the point and said: "Chairman Shao, you should have also heard that the country has officially promoted the revitalization plan of domestic soybeans this year, and it is foreseeable that the self-sufficiency rate of domestic soybeans will be greatly improved, isn't Cheng Xi Group worried?"

Chairman Shao snorted and said with a smile: "It must be a good thing that the country can improve the self-sufficiency rate of soybeans." I'm not very worried, after all, we still need to import soybeans in China. ”

Zhong Huazhi glanced at him deeply, didn't go around in circles, and said, "What you said is also right." But what if we cooperate?"

"What does Mr. Zhong mean?" Chairman Shao said with a smile, his eyes flickering.

Although they are both imported soybeans, the two are fundamentally not in the same circle. Jiagu International, which is backed by the Jiagu system, can almost be said to grow and harvest itself, and it is all non-genetically modified soybeans, while Cheng Xi Group, not to mention importing genetically modified soybeans, still purchases them from international grain merchants, in the final analysis, it is just a "second-way dealer".

However, thinking of Jiagu's acquisition of American grain merchant Gao Hong, Chairman Shao thought that he had figured out Zhong Huazhi's intentions.

However, unexpectedly -

"If Chairman Shao is willing, our soybean base in the Russian Far East can undertake orders from Cheng Xi Group. Zhong Huazhi smiled.

"Are you asking me to breach the contract?" said Chairman Shao as if he had just woken up from a dream.

Zhong Huazhi's smile remained the same, but it clearly expressed this meaning.

Quite simply, Cheng Xi Group is one of Marubeni's largest buyers in China.

Although Marubeni failed to win the acquisition of Gaohong in the United States, Marubeni's share of soybean exports to China is still significant, with a total of nearly 8 million tons of soybeans exported to China last year.

Now, Zhong Huazhi just wants to pry the corner of the red wall.

"If I break the contract with Marubeni Trading Company, I will lose a large amount of deposit, why should I do this?" Chairman Shao pointed out the key point in a deep voice.

Zhong Huazhi squinted his eyes and said with a smile: "It's just a loss margin, isn't it?And, as far as I know, Marubeni's margin is far less high than you said......

What the two of them are talking about is a rule in international trade.

In international trade, usually, the seller of a bulk commodity will only start the shipment after the buyer opens a letter of credit guaranteeing payment.

A letter of credit refers to a written guarantee document issued by the issuing bank to a third party at the request of the applicant and in accordance with its instructions, which contains a certain amount of money and makes payment within a certain period of time with the documents that meet the requirements. To put it simply, it is equivalent to a letter of guarantee issued by the bank, and as long as the goods arrive, the bank will pay the seller.

The four major grain merchants, such as Cargill and Bunge, generally require buyers to open letters of credit before they can trade. But in pursuit of rapid expansion in the Chinese market, Marubeni took on risks that other grain merchants would not have taken when doing business – relaxing the requirements for letters of credit and supplying cargoes as long as the customer provided a margin. Moreover, Marubeni requires a much lower margin than other suppliers.

For example, for a $40 million soybean shipment, other suppliers require a deposit of at least $1.5 million, and Marubeni only needs a deposit of $482,000.

It is undeniable that with this strategy, Marubeni has gained a huge market share in China. But, correspondingly, when the buyer is about to default, exiting the deal with Marubeni is a relatively low-cost option.

In this case, who else will be engaged if Marubeni is not a priority?

Another favorable factor is that both foreign and domestic companies have been a little unfamiliar with Marubeni's trade practices in the past few years.

Of course, no matter how small a mosquito is, it is also meat. What's more, for an order scale like Cheng Xi Group, the margin is really not a small amount, and in the absence of greater benefits, letting them break the contract will not only lose money, but also damage the company's reputation.

Zhong Huazhi also did not expect to "raise his arms", Cheng Xi Group will "bow down", in the business field, in the final analysis, it is a matter of interests: "At present, the average price of international soybeans in Hong Kong is about 4,400 yuan/ton, if Shao Dong buys from us instead, I agree to make a profit of 60 yuan/ton." ”

Chairman Shao's heart moved, saying that it was a concession, but in fact, it was equivalent to Jiagu helping him make up for the margin loss of default.

But if that's all it takes, it's not enough to make him break the contract.

Zhong Huazhi said calmly: "Shao Dong should also know that the soybeans we grow in the Far East are high-oil non-GMO soybeans, and if your company sells it to domestic crushing companies, whether it is a slight price increase or a quick shot, I believe that it will be stable." ”

Hearing this, Chairman Shao's heart jumped.

Last year, the United States was hit by a super drought, and the price of international soybeans soared, making the situation of the domestic soybean crushing industry quite grim.

If soybean prices don't fall back this year, more crushers will lose money, and they won't have a good time as soybean traders.

But if it's non-GMO soybeans produced by Jiagu, that's a different story.

Because, after years of publicity, the domestic soybean supporters led by Jiagu have completed "non-GMO education" for consumers, that is, most consumers are more willing to pay for non-GMO food.

It's not that the general soybean crushing companies don't want to purchase non-GMO soybeans, but it's just a matter of cost and yield - most of the high-quality and low-cost non-GMO soybeans have been digested by Jiagu himself, and everyone can only comfort each other with greed, anyway, except for Jiagu, everyone is genetically modified, isn't it?

However, with the promotion of "Jiadou No. 13" in Jiagu across the country, the production capacity began to be released to the market, which is bound to cause a fierce competition in the soybean processing industry. At this time, with the order placed by Xiang Jiagu, Cheng Xi Group is not afraid that the industry situation is grim and there are no buyers.

Moreover, in the current situation of increasingly tense Sino-Japanese relations, breaking the contract with Marubeni may be able to mix up the title of "patriotic enterprise".

Visible to the naked eye, Chairman Shao was shaken.

Zhong Huazhi smiled slightly, didn't he expect it?

At the same time, the employees of Jiagu's international trade department went to various soybean importers, large and small. Without exception, these soybean importers are trading with Marubeni Trading Co., Ltd.

To say that Marubeni is easy to be messed up is really not wronged. Marubeni trades in the Chinese market with a wide range of clients, from crushers to traders, ranging in size from the largest to the smallest.

But the bottom line of the second- and third-tier buyers in these markets is also low, in other words, the cost of Jiagu to pry the corner of the wall is also low.

When Katani ceded a portion of his interests, the corner of Marubeni Trading Company was almost crumbling.

Therefore, when Cheng Xi Group took the lead in announcing the cancellation of about 2 million tons of Brazilian soybean orders from Marubeni Trading Company, one soybean trading company after another chose to default on the target of Marubeni Trading Company.

Marubeni's China business unit is shaking! Marubeni's headquarters is shaking!

In just half a month, Marubeni has broken at least 4 million tons of soybean import contracts, with a total amount of about 2.4 billion US dollars.

This is different from the collective default of China's soybean processing and trading companies in the 04 soybean crisis, and this time it was only Marubeni Trading Company that was targeted.

Quite simply, Marubeni discovered that it was the Jiagu Group that led the incident.

Jiagu's "whip" was thrown down, not to mention that it made Marubeni feel painful, but it was true that it made Marubeni's high-level leaders have a splitting headache.

Even in normal times, given the importance of the Chinese market and the difficulty of law enforcement, international traders rarely resort to legal action or arbitration. Not to mention that with the white-hot issue between China and Japan over the Diaoyu Islands, the relationship between the two countries is becoming more and more tense, and Marubeni has no place to talk about his grievances.

To add insult to injury, the Chinese government announced that three employees of Columbia Grain Trading, a company owned by Marubeni Trading, had been detained on suspicion of tax evasion......

For a time, Marubeni's business in China seemed to be in turmoil.

Naturally, no one noticed that Qi Zheng, the ultimate boss of Jiagu, had quietly arrived in Brazil.

......

This time, whether it was the unfair treatment that Jiagu encountered in the island country, or the island country stirring up trouble in the Diaoyu Islands, Qi Zheng never thought about doing anything on the island country's mainland.

Natural disasters are easy to obtain, but how much significance do they have?

In the island country, a country where earthquakes occur thousands of times a year, what disasters have not been experienced? In the blink of an eye, how should life be lived?

If you want to make trouble, go straight to the door!

What is the lifeline of an island nation?

This dispute over the Diaoyu Islands shows exactly what it is like – it is the import of resources.

If it weren't for the fact that the continental shelf of the East China Sea, where the Diaoyu Islands are located, is extremely rich in natural resources, island countries would not be coveted. Of course, the continental shelf is also strategically and militarily important.

For island countries with limited domestic resources, without resource input, the economic system of island countries will be vulnerable.

Needless to say, the self-sufficiency rate of island countries in natural energy and mineral resources is in the single digits, and even in the case of food self-sufficiency, which is crucial, island countries are the lowest among developed countries, only about 40 percent.

China's soybean self-sufficiency rate was even more pitiful, with an annual demand for soybeans of more than 5 million tonnes but only 250,000 tonnes of local soybean production.

Of course, the people of the island countries started their overseas layout early, and their control of the overseas food supply chain is not comparable to that in China. For example, Brazil, which is under the feet of Qi Zheng at the moment, provides 15% of imported soybeans to the island countries every year - soybeans that are completely controlled by the people of the island countries.

At the headquarters of the Brazilian branch of Jiagu in Rio de Janeiro, Qi Zheng looked at the relevant materials collected by the Brazilian office of the Ministry of Information: "...... In 2011, Mitsui & Co. completed the acquisition of diversified food and agriculture companies, a major Brazilian grain company, and has cultivated land and harbors about twice the size of Tokyo's 23 wards, and in the northeastern state of Bahia, Mitsui & Co. owns nearly 30 circular soybean farms with a diameter of 1.2 kilometers......

“...... Marubeni Trading Co., Ltd. has signed a multi-faceted cooperation agreement with Brazilian grain merchant AMAGG, which is characterized by its direct purchase from farmers and a 3.2 million mu of non-GMO soybean farms......

“...... At present, there are more than 1.5 million people of island descent living in Brazil, and there are 62 Japanese agricultural cooperatives in various Brazilian states, and Japanese agricultural cooperatives and Japanese descendants have always been one of the important supports for the agricultural activities of Marubeni and other general trading companies in Brazil......"

Qi Zheng closed the information and thought thoughtfully.

He didn't bother to know who was behind the trade barriers encountered by Chaja Valley in the island country, and anyway, he didn't like the major general trading companies in the island country;

The people of the island nation have always had an unrelenting pursuit of maintaining a stable supply of external resources, and several major general trading companies are the implementers of this goal.

In order to meet the domestic demand for non-GMO soybeans in the island countries, in the case of China and the Russian Far East, the island countries have obviously increased their investment in non-GMO soybeans in Brazil and the United States.

When these countries, which originally only exported genetically modified soybeans, also joined the export of non-GMO soybeans to the island countries, the advantage of Chinese soybeans was less obvious – this was before the advent of Jiadou 13, of course.

As far as China is concerned, the small island country is a vicious dog that the United States has placed on China's side, and as far as Japan is concerned, Japanese grain merchants are one of the biggest competitors in Jiagu's rise. What Qi Zheng wants to do is to break up the stable supply system of overseas grain in the island countries.

The first step is to start with Brazilian soybeans.

......