Almost at the same time that Qi Zheng arrived in Brazil, Tetsu Wakabayashi, the head of the grain department of Marubeni Trading Company, also came to Brasilia.

While spring soybeans are being planted in China, Brazil's soybeans are already in the final stages of harvesting.

Unlike the newcomers to Kaya, Marubeni Trading's presence has been rooted in the land for longer than the establishment of the Kaya Group.

In central Brazil, there is a large subtropical plateau called Cerrado, where Brazilians call the new soybean plantings.

In the 70s of the last century, the island country signed a memorandum of cooperation with the Brazilian government to develop the Cerrado, although the area of agricultural land developed by this project is less than 3.5% of the total area of the Cerrado, but the island people in this area preemptively practiced the method of soybean planting, played a role in the development of the engine, and also allowed the footsteps of Japanese grain merchants to smoothly step into the interior of Brazil.

After more than 30 years of continuous expansion, coupled with the support of the descendants of the island nation in Brazil, Marubeni has been able to have a considerable share of soybean purchase and sales in Brazil.

In the past, half of Marubeni's soybean quota was allocated to the Chinese market, but even then it was difficult to meet the huge demand of the Chinese market, and it had to purchase soybeans through the hands of the four major grain merchants and sell them to China.

But now, Marubeni's soybean business may have suffered its worst ever.

Marubeni's soybean contracts in China were widely broken, forcing it to divert some of its vessels that had been reserved for the Chinese market, in addition to suspending shipments of other vessels berthed at Brazilian ports to buy time to find alternative buyers and minimize losses.

Wakabayashi didn't know the culprit behind all this, Kaya's Qi Masa, who had also arrived in Brazil, and now needed his peers to eat soybeans that China had rejected.

Unlike Marubeni's soybean business, which has been focusing on the Chinese market, Mitsui & Co. is focusing on new markets in Europe, and the cooperation with Mitsui is the way to minimize losses.

Although there is competition between several major consortia in the island countries, they never go it alone when they enter overseas. The consortium itself is a network structure, and then they are also intertwined. Whether people praise or denigrate, they cannot underestimate the strength of the island nation's general trading company group attack.

Approaching Shigeru Hirano, Mitsui & Co.'s deputy food minister in Brazil, Wakabayashi said unceremoniously: "We have delayed our sales demand this year, and the 2 million tons of soybeans in Brazil can be transferred to you for sale." ”

Shigeru Hirano glanced at Wakabayashi Tetsu with a smile: "I also received the news, I said earlier, you are willing to relax the contract requirements and do business with customers who are less familiar, and you will definitely be the first to appear when the market is unstable." ”

Although from the point of view of authority, Shigeru Hirano, who was "assigned" to Brazil, is one level lower than Wakabayashi Tetsu, but the two sides are not in the same trading company, not to mention that if Wakabayashi Tetsu still asks him, Hirano Shigeru can't help but laugh.

Wakabayashi Zhe's expression was indifferent.

Such a situation is not uncommon after the Marubeni merger and acquisition of the United States Gao Hong in the United States was defeated by Jiagu. Peers of the same level or a little lower level, there are more difficult to hear.

However, even so, it was not Shigeru Hirano's turn to laugh at him.

Wakabayashi Zhe glanced at Shigeru Hirano coldly and said, "Ridiculous! Do you think this is a strategic mistake by Marubeni? I have accurate information, China Kaya is leading the revival plan of China's soybean industry. This instigation of our customers to break the contract is just the first step in the revival of the soybean industry by the Chinese. ”

Shigeru Hirano was stunned for a moment, and then said disapprovingly: "I know the Chinese's soybean industry revival plan, I heard that the killer is a super high-yielding variety? ”

Ruolin Zhe looked at Shigeru Hirano with the eyes of a fool, shook his head and said, "You really have been in Brazil for too long. I know Jiagu too well, and since they have adopted such an aggressive expansion strategy, they must have full confidence. The four major grain merchants are strong, and Jiagu may not directly hit the hard, but for our grain business, Chinese is not afraid of the hard-hitting ......"

Shigeru Hirano was stunned and his face turned a little red.

However, as Wakabayashi said, he has been stationed in Brazil in recent years, and his knowledge of Kaya is only a few written descriptions of the trading company's intelligence, and it is difficult to effectively refute Wakabayashi Tetsu.

"Moreover, in terms of the current relationship between the two countries, I am only afraid that we are not the only ones who are facing tough competition. With that, Wakabayashi glanced at Shigeru Hirano meaningfully.

Shigeru Hirano was silent.

He knows Mitsui's role in the island's toughest trade barriers, and the deterioration of relations between the two countries is palpable even in Brazil.

It is only natural that political relations affect economic exchanges. Even Mitsui doesn't dare to say that he can be safe and sound in today's atmosphere.

It's not that I'm afraid of competition, but it's really thankless to go head-to-head with a local snake like Jiagu.

"We can't afford to lose the Chinese market. Shigeru Hirano said abruptly.

Both Marubeni and Mitsui have invested a lot of money in the grain or copper and iron commodities that only China has the means and appetite to absorb their supplies.

Wakabayashi nodded: "No one wants to lose the Chinese market, and we will continue to trade with China even if Marubeni suffers damage in the soybean trade." But what the future holds, only time will tell. ”

Today's Chinese are different from the past; if you slap someone, don't expect them to swallow it.

Thinking that Mitsui might also face the same situation as Marubeni, Shigeru Hirano no longer had the intention of confronting Wakabayashi Tetsu, so he began to look for an alternative buyer for soybeans.

And their plans are obviously not discussed in the best case.

The enemy is expected to be wide, both at home and abroad.

The worst-case scenario would be a complete loss of the Chinese market for their soybean business. And if Chinese increase their soybean self-sufficiency rate by 10%, the worst-case scenario will almost double.

However, even if they expected the enemy to be wide, they still couldn't guess the outcome.

Just as the two were discussing, there was a "snap" and the door was pushed open.

Both narrowed their eyes disapprovingly at the same time.

But before Shigeru Hirano could open his mouth to scold, Mitsui's chief technical expert stationed in Brazil first bowed again and again, and then gasped and said, "It's a big deal......

- At Mitsui's Brazilian soybean farm, the ground is inlaid with yellow and dark black, and the fields are covered with soybean stubble that has dried up after harvesting.

But if you look closely, you can see that it is also covered with dense broadleaf weed seedlings.

Shigeru Hirano and Zhe Wakabayashi, who rushed to hear the news, shrank their pupils: "This is ......"

Mitsui's technologist said in a bitter voice: "This is a weed called 'amaranth vine', and in the United States, it also has a notorious name - super weed!"

Worse happened.

......