With a huge amount of $44 billion, isn't Qi Zheng impressed?

Well, frankly speaking, as soon as he heard this offer at first glance, Qi Zheng's heart jumped a few times.

But after Qi Zheng silently asked himself a question in his heart, he calmed down.

"What does Qingyuan Beer represent for the Chinese beer industry?"

It was also this question that made the executives of Jiagu Group slowly calm down.

Needless to say, everyone has the answer - representing the "backbone"!

It is not reflected in the king status of Qingyuan Beer in China, nor in the achievements of Qingyuan Beer in expanding its territory overseas, but in the deep influence and control of Qingyuan Beer on the two major raw materials known as the "soul of beer" - hops and malting barley.

Qi Zheng only turned his head and asked He Changchuan: "Domestic hops don't need to be imported, right?"

He Changchuan showed a relaxed smile: "No need, our hop plantation can not only meet domestic needs, but also achieve export ......."

It should be said that no one could have imagined that the hop development in China - uh, it should be said that the hop development of Jiagu has given the industry too many surprises.

Previously, the ecological industry environment of domestic hops was not perfect, and there was a lack of competitive varieties, and the industry generally believed that in this small category, without the guidance of national agriculture and scientific research institutions, it was difficult for hop planting companies to develop new hops with market competitiveness only by virtue of their own capabilities.

However, Jiagu has repeatedly achieved miracles, in addition to improving the common bitter hops or high-α acid hops, the fragrant flowers with a variety of style characteristics have reached a high production level.

——Qi Zheng spread his hands, and the success rate of hops being mutagenesis by the "Nine Turns Nirvana Array" was high, which led Jiagu to single-handedly raise China's hops "scientific research" achievements to the world's leading level.

The western end of the Hexi Corridor in Suzhou Province has good climatic conditions, which is very suitable for hop production, and is recognized by the world's hop experts as the best production area. Up to now, Jiagu's hop plantation covers an area of 100,000 acres, which is the hop supply base of Qingyuan Beer and even China's beer industry.

Although it is rumored that Jiagu has "borrowed" new varieties of foreign hops through some channels. But the supply of varieties has increased, the quality is higher, the cost is more economical, isn't it fragrant to use domestic hops?

Of course, for the real "artifact" - "Ice Source" hops, there is no doubt that it is exclusive to its own Qingyuan beer.

Do you want to ask if you are worried about the leakage of "ice source" hop resources?

Qi Zheng is not worried.

Not to mention that Kaya immediately applied for patents in the United States and other countries that allow plant varieties as the subject of patent protection - a total of 832 patent applications related to "ice source" hops around the world, just the growing environment will be difficult for most interested people.

I don't know if it's because of the snow in the Qilian Mountains, "Bingyuan" hops are only suitable for growing in the Quxian area of Suzhou Province, and if you change to other places, the yield and quality are miserable.

Qi Zheng asked again: "You don't need to import high-quality malting barley, right?"

He Changchuan said with a smile: "I don't need to import it for a long time, and now, with the pace of our overseas expansion, it is still exported to Southeast Asia......"

If domestic hops are not loved by the father and the mother because of the market reason, the state still attaches great importance to malting barley.

For a long time, China not only has high-quality malting barley varieties, but also the quality of many malting barley varieties can be comparable to imported malting barley, and the planting area is not a lot;

Before Jiagu's intervention, the production and development of malting barley lagged behind the development of the beer industry for a long time, resulting in the dependence of China's malting barley on foreign countries as high as more than 60%, and China's beer industry was "led by the nose" by raw material suppliers from other countries.

"In the past six years, we have carried out the cultivation of excellent malting barley varieties and the construction of bases in Suzhou Province, and cooperated with the Suzhou Provincial Government to improve logistics and other supporting facilities, which has effectively reduced costs; three years ago, we set up a beer alliance to order production, which has ensured the income of wheat farmers and turned malting barley into a strong industry in Suzhou Province!" He Changchuan said with a smile.

Among them, the most important thing is the improvement of the quality of domestic malting barley, the taste and flavor of beer are more and more accepted by consumers and brewers, and domestic malting barley has entered a virtuous circle.

As for why the quality can be steadily improved?

Don't ask, if you ask, someone is hanging!

The malting barley produced by Jiagu has a higher protein content than malting barley from other countries, including Australia, which helps the final product to have a fuller body and foam retention during fermentation – even AB InBev has chosen domestic ingredients for its breweries in China.

In the past two years, although barley has become the third largest grain crop in China's total imports in addition to soybeans and sorghum, most of them are used for feed, and the dilemma of malting barley being "controlled by others" is gone forever.

Qi Zheng still said calmly: "You see, except for special hops such as 'Bingyuan' hops, and yeast strains that determine the final taste of beer, we are simply the largest and only supplier of high-quality hops and malting barley in China. ”

No one refutes.

Looking at AB InBev's acquisition plan, the $44 billion acquisition is not only the brewery, channels, brands and other assets of Qingyuan Beer, but also the affiliated raw material base, including malting barley planting base and hop plantation, as well as the intellectual property rights of "Ice Source" hops and other beer-related assets.

It is difficult to say whether AB InBev's acquisition of Qingyuan Beer is specifically aimed at the Chinese beer industry, but to say that it has done nothing after choking the "throat" of the Chinese beer industry, it is inevitable that this "capital predator" will be regarded as a little too kind.

You know, AB InBev's ability to reduce the cost of acquiring companies and increase profits has even been recognized by many investors, including Warren Buffett - how did this recognition come about? Is it by taking on more responsibility?

At that time, what if Jiagu becomes a shareholder of AB InBev?

Qi Zheng didn't say a word of "don't sell", but used the association of the two "souls of beer" to tell everyone that after agreeing to the merger and acquisition of AB InBev, the backbone of the Chinese beer industry that stood up was broken!

Then say no!

The management of Jiagu reached an agreement, and He Changchuan was completely relieved.

At this time, the "treacherous and cunning" Wang Yuye spoke: "Don't be in a hurry to refuse, what a good publicity opportunity, this is to help Qingyuan Beer become famous in the world, let's sneak Budweiser InBev!"

Everyone laughed knowingly.

After laughing, Ding Xian of the group's strategy department thought thoughtfully: "I think Qingyuan Beer still needs to be prepared - after rejecting the merger and acquisition of AB InBev, it will completely tear its face, and I am afraid that it will be suppressed in all directions in the future......"

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