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Chapter 753: Gathering Wool (Third update, please subscribe)
"Participate in the Moscow International Economic Conference?"

Passing Zhu Yihai a cigar, Li Yian said,
"Invitation letter from the manager of Sunan Trading Company?"

"Yes, Sunan Trading Company."

Zhu Yihai said after taking the cigar.

"It is said to be a private company, but there are no private companies in Soviet Russia. It is said to be a private company, but in fact it is an enterprise with official background."

"Not just an official background, but part of the Soviet intelligence apparatus."

Li Yian's answer made Zhu Yihai stunned for a moment, and then he said.

"Well, that's understandable. So should I go or not?"

Zhu Yihai said while smoking a cigar.

"There's no such thing as a good party. The Russians must have some agenda for inviting me there."

"He wants to point his sword at the dollar!"

"However, the reason why Gang Gang held this meeting is not just to break the blockade. He is Xiang Zhuang dancing with his sword!"

After the United States took the lead in establishing the "Paris Coordinating Committee", the Eastern Bloc headed by Soviet Russia was not only blocked by technology but also by trade. In order to break the blockade of the Western world, Soviet Russia used the entire Eastern world market as a bargaining chip. , inviting Western countries such as Britain, France, Germany, Italy, and Japan to Moscow for "private business negotiations" to break through Batumi's political constraints.

"This... is unrealistic! Not in dollars? In rubles? Who wants rubles except Eastern European countries!"

"Dollar!"

Hearing this, Zhu Yihai, who was holding a cigar, was stunned for a moment, and then said.

"It's nothing more than trying to break the blockade of the Western world through private trade."

"No one wants rubles, and he doesn't have much hard currency like gold, so he can only use barter to reduce hard currency expenditures like Germany did before the war."

That’s why we want to build a so-called “dollar-free trading system.”

With a faint smile on his face, Li Yi'an didn't even bother to comment on this policy, because Germany had done this before the war. Before the war, Germany tried to use industrial productivity as the basis of the German currency and use direct barter and accounting to conduct import and export trade, thereby reducing hard currency expenditures. At its peak, 83% of Germany's international trade was conducted through barter. But in the end it was still unsustainable.

Li Yian stood up and paced back and forth in the study room with a cigar in hand, thinking as he walked. When he was in college, he had read some Cold War materials and had a certain understanding of the 52 Moscow International Economic Conference.

The corner of his mouth raised slightly, and Li Yian said while holding a cigar in his mouth.

Zhu Yihai asked curiously,

Of course, this is just a view from the perspective of future generations, and the original intention of Steel is not to challenge the US dollar. After all, the current US dollar hegemony has not yet been demonstrated. The core reason is... Soviet Russia does not have enough hard currency in its hands - —I don’t have gold or dollars in my hand.

"It is to challenge the US dollar settlement system in international trade after the war, and he wants to use this to build an international US dollar-free trade bulk transaction system."

Facts have proved that Steel's decision was correct. No capitalist would ignore such a huge market like the Eastern Bloc headed by Soviet Russia. Even Tangshan achieved a breakthrough in trade with Britain, Japan and other countries at that meeting. Breaking the U.S. embargo. At the Moscow International Economic Conference, trade agreements with a total value of US$11 million were directly signed with 22400 countries including the United Kingdom, France, and West Germany. At the same time, a trade agreement with a total value of 6000 million pounds was signed with representatives of the Japanese business community.

"Oh? If that's the case, then who is that Pei Gong?"

"what?"

But that’s not the core of this meeting!

"Barter trade can be used. But that thing won't last long. Just like we used to trade with the Northeast, they used soybeans to trade with us. We can't exchange soybeans for American machine tools or European machines. Yes, in the end we still cannot do without hard currency.”

Because of his long-term business experience, Zhu Yihai certainly knows the disadvantages of barter trade.

Nodding, Li Yian certainly knew the disadvantages of barter trade. After all, in another world, the Sudong Group had proven this with decades of history. Because the barter system could not maintain trade balance, it could only use bookkeeping. system, and currency is just a unit of account, and even if it is recorded, it cannot be bought and sold freely. The two parties can only negotiate an exchange amount. If the other party does not have the corresponding goods to barter, they can only record accounts, and the accumulation of accounting is getting more and more After a long time, in order to settle the matter as soon as possible and avoid losses, you can only accept unnecessary goods or even inferior goods provided by the other party. By that time, everything will be hard to come back. "It is difficult to sustain long-term and maintain trade balance. This is the biggest problem with barter trade and the trade accounting system. However, for us, this is not without benefits."

"Benefits? What benefits?"

Zhu Yihai said doubtfully.

"price!"

"what?"

"In order to attract us, they will definitely offer a low price that we can't refuse. The price is usually about 20% lower than the international market price! It may even be lower."

"This is impossible!"

Zhu Yihai said directly.

“If they sell things at such low prices, don’t they make money?”

"Earn money? What money do you make?"

After taking a puff on his cigar and exhaling the smoke, Li Yian said.

"When doing business with them, there is no need to consider cost. Before World War II, in the 20s, Russian wheat was sold to the world at a price % lower than the international market price. Even Tangshan imported it. We bought a lot of cheap Russian wheat, and we couldn’t even sell American wheat at that time.”

At that time, the low-priced commodities exported by Russia were not just wheat. There are also commodities such as lumber. Their low-price dumping even directly silenced businessmen in Suzhou.

Of course, there was no word dumping at that time, but businessmen from various European countries even asked the government to provide trade protection. To cope with the impact of low prices of Russian goods.

No matter what happened in the end, until the outbreak of World War II, Russia relied on its low-price advantage to export a large amount of materials and exchanged a large number of industrial machines from European and American countries, thus promoting the development of its own industry.

"This, this is unrealistic!"

Li Yian nodded and said.

"It is unrealistic from the market perspective, but sometimes some things cannot be considered with common sense. In short, if my expectations are correct, in order to attract us to sign an agreement with them this time, there will be at least 10 % to 20% profit margin, so..."

After a pause, Li Yian said.

"Since someone is willing to give in, it would be a shame if we didn't accept it, don't you think?"

After being shocked, Zhu Yihai said.

"That's right. With such a huge profit margin, if we sign an order worth hundreds of millions of dollars, wouldn't it be equivalent to losing hundreds of millions of dollars?"

"Hundreds of millions of dollars...that's just one year! If we put it into the entire Sudong Group, and if it continues, it will last for more than ten years, and the "profit transfer" will go from hundreds of millions or even hundreds of millions of dollars, which is almost as long as we wait every year Accept hundreds of millions of dollars in aid from the East!”

When talking about Eastern aid, Li Yian, who had already walked to the window, couldn't help but be silent for a while. In another world, why did Germany like to import oil from Soviet Russia? At the lowest point, it was even almost one-third cheaper than the international market. You can buy such wool. If you don't pinch it, can you treat yourself?

This is just oil. In fact, during the entire Cold War, in order to break the blockade, let the capitalists take the initiative to sell products to them, accept their barter trade methods, and at the same time allow European governments to turn a blind eye, Close one's eyes, the profit margins of Eastern countries are very large. They basically adopt the method of buying at a premium and exporting at a low price. This in and out is almost equivalent to giving away one or two percentage points of GDP growth rate to others.

This kind of business that only made money without losing money was not a one-time business, nor was it a year, but continued for decades in the future. Almost until Reagan fundamentally blocked the export route to the Soviet Union, the Soviet Union Group had been promoting "favorable capital" "The purpose of the foreign trade strategy is to obtain various Western goods and technologies that they lack.

"So, if we go to this meeting, we will basically go there to collect wool?"

Zhu Yihai's words made Li Yian nodded and said.

"Yes, it's just about gathering wool, and it takes more than one head, and it takes more than one year. So, if you go over this time and be able to participate in it and gather a handful of wool, it will be very beneficial to us..."

(End of this chapter)