Reborn since 1993

Chapter 634 Why can’t you admit the gap?
This post was made by a person working at the border in Heilongjiang Province, claiming that Torch Group and domestic lighter manufacturers were transporting lighters to Europe by trainloads.

"When will Torch Group sell its machines to the old European market?"

"Isn't the inland lighter industry currently suing old Europe?"

Seeing one question after another, the poster replied to another post, "Black label lighters, Torch Group's people, all the goods sent from Suifenhe are labeled with black label lighters!"

"The black label lighter belongs to Torch Group?"

"Where did this brand come from?"

When Yan Lixiang saw the words "Black Label Lighter", his heart skipped a beat. He had inquired about the situation and learned that the Black Label brand was very popular in old Europe, and many domestic OEM factories were producing for the Black Label.

But as to what the black label lighters had to do with the Torch Group, Yan Lixiang had no idea. He had never even thought of the black label lighters and the Torch Group together.

“Black Label is a brand that has recently become popular in old Europe. Now all old Europeans are using it. Brands like Bic are no longer selling well because of Black Label!
I just came back from Spain last week. My uncle runs a supermarket in Spain, and all the lighters he sells now are black label.

The commission for black label is very high. If you can find the channel, the purchase price is $0.1 per black label, and you sell it for one dollar, making a net profit of $0.9. My uncle's store can make thirty or forty dollars every day by selling black labels!
The same thing happened in other supermarkets I visited. They were all selling black label lighters. All other brands of lighters were gone, and no one was willing to sell them! ”

On the forum, a person who had just returned from Spain talked about the situation of black label lighters in old Europe on Tianya Forum.

A computer now costs tens of thousands of yuan, and an Internet cable costs several thousand yuan. The Internet access fee provided by Yinghaiwei to home users in cities such as Yanjing is 6 yuan per hour.

To be honest, those who can post spam on Tianya Forum nowadays are those who have a certain economic foundation or a good family background. Those who are busy making a living do not have the opportunity or conditions to go online nowadays.

It's like, decades later in the previous life, when many people mentioned World of Warcraft, they had the impression that there were many big guys who played World of Warcraft and had strong financial strength. In fact, it's the same principle. Those who can access the Internet there all have very good family financial conditions.

Now on Tianya Forum, no one knows whether the person behind the pseudonym is a boss, university professor, scholar, or a certain unit, etc. Of course, when you start to curse, you don’t care who the other person is, but there are indeed quite a few big guys who spam the forum.

“Is selling Spanish lighters so profitable?”

"You don't even look at how much a lighter costs over there. A lighter in China only costs one yuan!"

After seeing the comments from this person who returned from Spain, discussions about overseas issues immediately appeared on this post.

Going abroad is a hot topic in society now and it is also what countless people yearn for. It seems that once you go abroad, you can get rich, live in a big house, and marry a foreign beauty.

Now seeing that selling lighters can earn dozens of dollars a day, equivalent to 300 RMB, seems to further prove the rumors that gold is everywhere overseas.

Under normal circumstances, if Yan Lixiang saw that the post had gone off topic and saw so many people talking about life overseas and expressing their envy of the modern life overseas, he would probably be able to turn himself into an expert on foreign countries and give some advice, but this time he didn't want to post any nonsense at all.

"What does the Black Label lighter have to do with the Hanxi Torch Group? Black Label is an old European brand and its technology is far superior to that of the Torch Group!" Yan Lixiang replied under the post.

But it seems that no one is interested in this post. People in the forum seem to be more interested in overseas and don't seem to be interested in Torch Group, Black Label and the like.

Just when Yan Lixiang was about to turn off the computer in disappointment, he saw a bell symbol on the computer screen and a red dot appeared. He knew that someone had replied to his post, so he quickly opened the background post.

"I work at a research institute under Sinochem, and our unit has a cooperative project with Torch Group on butane and hydraulics.

I think that the Black Label lighter has a special relationship with the Torch Group, and it is even possible that it is a shell company established by the latter in old Europe.

Because the appearance of the black label was so strange and there was no sign at all, low-priced lighters were suddenly launched on a large scale.

A lighter priced at $0.1 per piece, with super high production capacity of black label. As far as I know, in the global lighter industry, only the Torch Group and the manufacturers that have moved to the Hanxi Torch Industrial Park can reduce costs to this level with the help of the entire Torch Group's lighter industry chain.

No matter whether it is foreign or domestic lighter manufacturers, it is impossible to reduce the cost of disposable lighters to less than one dollar!"

When Yan Lixiang saw this post analyzing the technology, his mind was shaken a little, but he was more horrified and angry.

You know, he had just written a newspaper article praising Black Label and belittling Torch Group. Now he was told that Black Label, which he praised to the sky and saved the domestic lighter industry, was a vest of Torch Group?

Yan Lixiang couldn't accept this. It was beyond his imagination. In his heart, he really believed that foreign lighter technology was far ahead of domestic technology and it was impossible for domestic technology to surpass foreign technology.

But now he was told that Torch Group, relying on a fake brand and price war, had swept the old European disposable lighter market, which was really hard for Yan Lixiang to accept.

"What nonsense!"

"Do you know how advanced overseas lighter technology is? Do you know the true level of domestic lighters?" "How can a company that doesn't even dare to face up to the gap between itself and overseas lighters make products at the craftsman level?"

……

Looking at the almost hysterical replies and continuous posts on the other side of the computer, Yuan Quan, who was in the research institute and surfing the Internet on the institute's computer, shook her head.

He did not lie to Yan Lixiang on the other side. Yuan Quan was indeed working in a research institute under Sinochem, engaged in research and development.

When Yuan Quan first came to the Sinochem Research Institute, the conditions were very poor and funding was severely insufficient. However, since cooperating with the Torch Group and developing projects such as lighter liquefaction, compression, and liquid formulation for the Torch Group, the institute began to upgrade its capabilities and funding continued to arrive.

The computer Yuan Quan is using now was also donated by Torch Group. He uses it to search for overseas information online. Of course, in his spare time, he inevitably goes to Tianya Forum to post some messages and cultivate his account level...

Today's post happened to be the one Yuan Quan was most familiar with, so he said a few more words. He just analyzed from a technical perspective that the relationship between Black Label, a lighter brand that appeared inexplicably, and Torch Group is really too subtle.

However, Yan Lixiang was unwilling to believe it, so Yuan Quan was too lazy to refute it. The other party no longer cared about technology and started to play the game of free conviction. Then it was useless for him to say anything.

Many people simply do not consider how many new global patents Torch Group has registered, how many new technologies it has introduced, and how many industry-related papers the R&D personnel working at Torch Group have published since its establishment.

The person who was arguing with Yuan Quan was only willing to use the domestic lighter technology from three or even five years ago to compare with foreign countries. At that time, the Torch Group had not even been established, so what else could Yuan Quan say?

"Yuan Quan, the technical engineer from Torch Group will come over for a meeting later, don't forget it!"

As soon as Yuan Quan closed the webpage, the director of his research institute came over to inform him to attend the meeting.

"What is Torch Group doing this time?"

Yuan Quan just asked casually, but the words of the director of the institute left him stunned.

"According to the news from Sinochem headquarters, Torch Group wants to cooperate with the headquarters to build a new energy company to manufacture and supply butane for Torch Group!"

"what?"

Yuan Quan asked in astonishment, "The original energy production plant in Torch Group Industrial Park has only been in operation for a short time, how could it be insufficient..."

Looking at the main force of his own research institute, the director of the institute glanced around and saw that there was no one there. Then he said to Yuan Quan mysteriously, "This news has not been announced to the public yet, you can't spread it!

I heard from the headquarters that Torch Group will continue to expand its production capacity. Not only will the third phase of the project be launched, but I heard that the production capacity will also be aimed at the goal of annual shipments of 3 billion lighters!"

After saying that, the director of the institute left with a smile. He didn't mean to let the cat out of the bag when he told Yuan Quan this. The subtext was to tell Yuan Quan that in their institute, there was great potential for both career and money, and asked Yuan Quan to stay in the institute and not run away.

As a unit cooperating with Torch Group, the more popular the Torch Group's lighters sell, the more funding the institute will naturally receive, and the more salary and bonuses it will receive.

The rise of a company can really drive the upstream and downstream industrial chains and change the living conditions of related practitioners, especially the Torch Group, which can change even more people!

……

On the forum, he replied to dozens of posts in succession. For Yan Lixiang, who has never been very fast at typing on the computer, this was an exceptional performance.

By the way, Yan Lixiang uses the Tianya Pinyin input method launched by Tianya Company to type. For this reason, when he bought a computer, he also bought a Shenzhou USB flash drive. Now the promotion of buying a Shenzhou USB flash drive and giving away the Tianya input method is still going on.

As for input methods and USB flash drives, Yan Lixiang actually knew which company developed them, but he pretended not to know because there was really no substitute for them in China. He couldn't use Wubi because he couldn't learn that at his age...

Seeing that the other party did not respond, Yan Lixiang did not feel any sense of victory, but only felt a sense of anxiety.

Yan Lixiang was very depressed and had a stern face while eating. His wife and children didn't dare to speak to him. Yan Lixiang had a bad temper and he would curse anyone who offended him to death.

After eating a bowl of rice, Yan Lixiang's mood improved slightly, but the news that came out from the central media financial TV station made Yan Lixiang feel like he was falling into an icy cave.

"The latest news from the inland commerce department is that the Inland Lighter Import and Export Association has officially reached an agreement with the Old European Lighter Association. The Old European Lighter Association has officially withdrawn the anti-dumping lawsuit against domestic lighters!
This is the first time that China has won an overseas anti-dumping lawsuit!

In the future, domestic lighter manufacturers can sell to the old European Union region after being approved by the Inland Lighter Import and Export Association. "

"Hanxi Torch Group announced that it has achieved its goal of producing 1.5 billion lighters annually ahead of schedule!"

(End of this chapter)