Chapter 249: British Opportunity
After Seryosha returned to Moscow, he only inquired a little about the Songtsevo Brotherhood. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. biqUgE。 info He didn't want to continue to directly intervene in the fight between the gangs anymore, because there were too many opportunities in front of Seryosha, and since Seryosha now had the strength to seize these opportunities, why did he have to spend so much effort to do those things?
But Seryosha is reluctant to do it is one thing, and others to meddle in his business is another. Over the years, Seryosha has long understood a truth, gangs can never be completely wiped out, and the fall of one gang will lead to the rise of another. When he left Gorky, the black market he ran was occupied by those inconspicuous guys, although it didn't take much effort to get it back, but the credibility and customer relationships accumulated at the beginning cost everyone a lot of energy. And what about their own business partners, the Italian mafia! It's the same thing, now they are no longer as brave in the New York area, and the five families have become a thing of the past! The Cali Group and the Medellín Group, which now have a monopoly on the production and distribution channels of D-products, are the top gangs in the United States. Therefore, Seryosha will not give up his territory in any case, and let go of the Songtsevo Brotherhood to become bigger and stronger.
Seryosha's top priority at the moment is the issue of agricultural reform in Ukraine. Now the officialdom in Central Asia has been cleaned up by the KGB, and a large number of ready-made positions have been vacated. And within the Kremlin, the struggle between the old subordinates of the general manager and the newly rising KGB forces has intensified. Just before the New Year's holiday on the 23rd of last month, the Soviet ambassador to Cuba, Volotnikov, was transferred to the post of chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Russian Republic, joining his predecessor Solomentsev in the Politburo. The struggle at the top was even more intense, and although Seryosha did not know which faction would be the final winner of this struggle, Seryosha knew that he was right to cling to Gorbachev's thigh.
Since Gorbachev was desperate for a reform of agricultural production, Seryosha threw out a bold plan to cater to Gorbachev's mentality. He has now reversed the original set of ideas in the city of Dnepropetrovsk about how much gas a fertilizer plant could consume, and the fertile soil of Ukraine does not have a strong demand for fertilizer.
Seryosha finally decided to hand over the report to the Glencore's own agricultural economists, so that it would be more professional and actionable. Gorbachev was known as an agricultural economist in the Soviet Union, and Seryosha believed that the report would definitely appeal to Gorbachev and made up his mind to do it.
In the end, after half a month of collation, the report was finally submitted to the office of Secretary of the Supreme Soviet Gorbachev. Gorbachev immediately summoned Seryosha to discuss the report. Gorbachev concluded to Seryosha that the report was good, there was only one question, where did the money come from?
"Secretary! Glencore wants to get the right to trade gas from Mediterranean Trading at a favorable price, and they are willing to provide this part of the financing in the form of special trade! Seryosha whispered.
"You mean the Soviet-European gas pipeline trade, right?" Gorbachev nodded thoughtfully, while Seryosha was a little nervous, and the Soviet Union began to provide a steady supply of natural gas to France from January 1 of this year. From this day on, Western Europe could no longer shake off the energy yoke from the East. It's a good deal with a lot of money and a steady income. The Soviet Union, relying on gas trade contracts, could earn about $10 billion a year in foreign exchange in the future. This is still an energy transaction between countries, and if it is the terminal price of energy consumption, I am afraid that it will be even more lucrative.
"What conditions did they offer?" Gorbachev seems to be a little impressed, and the cooperation between the Mediterranean Trading Company and Glencore has been going well for more than a year. The other side took a huge risk to provide a stable food supply for the Soviet Union at a difficult time, and Gorbachev felt that the other party should be given a certain amount of return, and now that the gas pipeline has been built, the annual gas supply is decided by the Soviet Union, and the other side has no reason to oppose it since he is interested in Gorbachev.
"Glencore is willing to pay the same price as the French government, and you know that we need a lot of money to carry out agricultural reform in the Ukrainian region, and the reform will not necessarily be immediate, it is likely to bring food supply pains, and we will be even more inseparable from Glencore's grain trade!" Seryosha tried his best to persuade him to win this big deal by singing a double yellow through the Mediterranean Trading Company and Glencore.
"Comrade Ulyanov, I can't promise you that this matter will be successful, but I will still fight for you and the foreign trade department about the right to trade in natural gas! Now the top priority is to solve the problem of domestic food supply, we can't always consume the country's precious foreign exchange to buy grain and let these Western countries choke our neck, I believe that our country is capable of achieving food self-sufficiency. Comrade Ulyanov, you have always been very capable, I hope you will play a greater role in the post of the Ministry of Agriculture! Gorbachev said some encouraging words and did not promise Seryosha anything, which made Seryosha feel a little disappointed.
Immediately after leaving the White House, Seryosha spoke on the phone with Mark Ritchie about the gas business. During this time, Mark Ritchie used his connections in the United States to successfully sell Soviet aluminum ingots to General Motors and Boeing, and found several long-term buyers for Glencore. However, these ingots need to be re-smelted and processed in Italy to deceive the US government's trade sanctions bill! With the aluminium business stabilising, Mark Ritchie has shifted his focus to the UK and is making a big deal there.
Drawing on his many years of experience in the spot trade of minerals and energy, Mark Ritchie has a keen eye for the huge opportunities that lie in the UK. The recent impasse in negotiations between British coal miners and Margaret Thatcher's government on the closure of coal mines has led to a continuous rise in the price of coal in the UK, and the price of natural gas will certainly rise, and more importantly, Margaret Thatcher is frantically selling off British utilities to reduce the government's fiscal deficit, which is a good opportunity to buy down these state-owned utilities in the UK. The only uncertainty is whether Margaret Thatcher would compromise if the British coal miners went on strike, given that the 1974 workers' strike directly ousted the Heath government, which is what Mark Ritchie has been hesitant about.