Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 414 Luo Qia ([-])

There is a large storage center built in the Port of Rocha.It contained vast quantities of grain, cotton, and wool, and, of course, large quantities of silver dollars in Paraná pine boxes—this was used to pay for the goods purchased.

Shao Shude, Commissioner of Xiling District, is currently inspecting this emerging port city, accompanied by Han Gang, the new director of Luocha Bulk Trade Center.The location of Rocha Port is superior. The coast is a natural deep-water anchorage. The Rocha deep-water port that Uruguay plans to build for exporting iron ore to China is located here.After three years of continuous construction by the Construction Bureau and the students of Bingtuanbao, this pier has now become the second largest port in China after Dongfang Port. It can berth dozens of large-tonnage ships at the same time. (Public commercial port) has ten pulley booms; the inner port (domestic ship anchorage) has ten steam booms, with an annual handling capacity of nearly [-] tons, and is the leading commercial port in the New World.

With the grain trade and the cotton and wool trade that began to rise in the second half of last year, more and more businessmen from various countries came to Rocha Port for trading.From the few Hanseatic merchants who bought grain at first, to the Florida, Brazilian, and French merchants who sold cotton later, and recently some Spanish, British, and La Plata merchants who sold wool.With the influx of businessmen from various countries, the tax revenue received by the customs officials stationed in the port of Luocha by people from the east coast is also increasing day by day. At the same time, various service facilities such as taverns, hotels, etc. Private small businesses have also sprung up like mushrooms after rain, greatly prospering the market of Rocha Port.

"At present, more than 15 tons of lint cotton have been collected and stored, which is enough for us to produce about 110 pieces of cotton cloth." Han Gangchao Shao Shude said, "The purchase price of these cottons varies from 145 yuan to [-] yuan depending on the quality and time. Floating. The employees of my organization center graded the purchased cotton, that is, grade [-] to grade [-]. Cotton with better quality such as grade [-] and grade [-] is used for export to maintain the reputation of our East Coast cloth brand. The poorer third-grade cotton is kept in the country for self-use or sent to the colonies for digestion. By the way, Commissioner Shao, what happened to the establishment of a large-scale cotton processing plant in Luocha port that I applied for a while ago? The first batch was not approved ?”

In addition to serving as the director of Luocha Bulk Trade Center, Han Gang also serves as the mayor of Luocha Town, so he is still very enthusiastic about developing local industries.After all, Qian Hao, the county magistrate of Ping'an County, and Bo Sen, the magistrate of Zhenhai County, all started as mayors of the town, and he, Han, naturally has a lot of motivation, so he will take care of Luo Qia well, so that in the future, in case There is a county here, and the position of the county magistrate is naturally his own.

A while ago, he made a report to his superiors, requesting to set up a cotton processing factory in the port of Luocha, so as to process the locally picked seed cotton into the lint cotton needed by the textile factory.Shao Shude generally supported his plan, and helped him coordinate the production tasks of the current No. [-] machine factory, and asked the other party to try to spare some shifts to produce some cotton gins.The first machine factory saw that it was a greeting from the outgoing veteran, and it was very face-saving, and immediately worked overtime to produce fifty cotton gins.And this lint processing factory was finally approved under Shao Shude's activities. After the Ministry of Industry and Commerce dispatched personnel to discuss with Shao Shude and Han Gang, they finally decided on the design plan of the factory and started from a newcomer. Four hundred of the first batch of Italian textile workers immigrated to prepare for the establishment of factories.

"It has been approved." Shao Shude said calmly, then turned his head to look at the beaming Han Gang, and asked, "I heard that you and some people went to the north to buy cotton plantations in Sao Paulo and Rio. ?”

Han Gang was startled for a moment, and then said a little embarrassedly: "That's what happened. A few friends from the Ministry of Industry and Commerce and the Ministry of Finance are optimistic about the market of cotton plantations, and are going to raise funds to go to Brazil to see if there are any suitable plantations. Acquisition, they asked me to join, I thought it was not a bad thing, so I agreed to them. A while ago, Tangyuan sent someone to San Vicente to find out the market, and found that there were indeed several cotton plantations for sale there. , are all cultivated fields that have been cultivated for a long time, with manors and slaves attached. We summed up our savings for many years, and then mortgaged the property to the United Industrial Credit Bank for a loan. When the time is right, go to the north and talk to the people there."

Shao Shude hummed, but didn't say anything.In fact, he knew very well what tricks these people were playing.It is nonsense to say that they want to operate cotton planting. Strictly speaking, these people have no intention of operating this business for a long time. They just rely on their familiarity with national policies to take advantage of the low price of cotton plantations to start buying in advance. .When the textile factories of the East Coasters and Europeans search for plantations all over the world because of the competition for raw materials, they can easily wait for the price to be sold.

As people in the 21st century, they play this kind of trick very casually. They first buy cotton plantations at a low price, and then wait for the east bank government to slowly increase the cotton purchase price to hit the cotton of the French, Dutch, and Venetians. Textile factories, increasing their production costs; when cotton prices run at a high level, as a cotton plantation that has been cultivated for many years and has a full set of facilities and slaves, its price will also rise to an unimaginable height. They would be up for grabs, because there would always be factory owners or investors from all over the world anxiously looking for raw materials.

Because they are familiar with every step of the policy direction of the East Bank government, they can choose to transfer the cotton plantations in their hands at the peak before the East Bank government takes advantage of the cost advantage to significantly reduce the price of cotton cloth.When the east coast government dumps a large amount of cotton cloth at a low profit price, making the entire market saturated and the price of cotton cloth drop rapidly, the cotton textile factories of the French, Dutch, and Venetians will also be in a state of loss due to cost disadvantages.At this time, the price of cotton in the international market will inevitably experience a sharp drop. Correspondingly, the price of cotton plantations will also fall to the bottom in a short period of time.At this time, they can see if there are any unlucky people who have unfortunately gone bankrupt or have poor capital turnover in this wave of storms. If so, they can come to the door to sell their properties at a low price.

Of course, the above process is simple to say, but it is actually quite troublesome to operate, and the duration is also very long, and success depends on luck.To put it bluntly, this is a capital game that hurts others as well as oneself.Moreover, when the people on the east coast dump cotton cloth at ultra-low prices, although the French factory will lose money because it cannot sell cotton cloth, it does not mean that they are helpless.To put it bluntly, at this time, the French can choose to turn the tables and use administrative means to completely expel the textiles of the East Coast people from the French market, and then close the door and sell them by themselves.The big deal is that foreign markets are no longer needed. France's large market of 2000 million people is enough to support the French textile industry, which has just started for a few years.

Therefore, the method of harming others and benefiting oneself by the people on the east coast will only make the Dutch and Venetians, who also have a small domestic market, more depressed, and it will not have much impact on a big country like France.Although the country will definitely be flooded with a large amount of smuggled cheap East Coast cloth, which will seriously impact the sales price of cotton cloth in the domestic market, it is not a problem to preserve the French textile industry as a whole and make it survive.

Moreover, a lot of political considerations must be considered in launching this kind of dumping tactic, and the timing must be grasped. In short, how to operate it properly is really a test of one's skill.But then again, with the current influence of the East Coast Republic in Brazil, they don't have to worry about the manor they bought being hacked—those Brazilians won't be so overwhelmed.So in the worst case scenario where their plantation doesn't go off the table, it won't lose money.As long as they operate well and sell the cotton produced in the plantations to the Rocha Cotton Ginner, then it is not a problem to earn a stable long-term income. In general, investing in these cotton plantations is actually a good business .

"Don't put your mind on speculation all day long." Shao Shude warned, "How is the wool purchase going? The General Administration of Textile Industry just set the tone last month. From now on, we will gradually increase the production of the wool textile industry. Woolen The profit margin is much higher than that of cotton cloth. Although Spain and Ottomans are both big wool-producing countries, we must find a way to turn it into our raw material production place and product dumping place, so as to earn the scissors difference between them. Don’t use this Looking at me with this kind of eyes, I know it is very difficult, it is not easy, but it is man-made, with our ultra-low cost and advanced dyeing technology that others do not have, if we exclude the interference of political factors, we can do this. Spain It’s hard to say, but the big empire like Ottoman may not fail to succeed. In short, you should pay close attention to me next time, and don’t allow any baskets. The first batch of wool must be purchased at least 30 bags, and the annual purchase should be more than [-] bags. "

The 30 bags of wool are only 1500 tons. According to the wholesale size of textiles on the east coast (250 square yards per piece, or about 6 square meters), it is only enough to produce less than [-] pieces after removing losses.However, woolen goods are better than high profit margins. In the heyday of the United Kingdom, the annual export of woolen fabrics was only more than [-] pieces, and a considerable part of the woolen goods was bought by the Dutch for further processing and sale. The average price per piece was [-] GBP and above.Over the years, with the sharp decline in the export of British woolen fabrics, the price of woolen fabrics in the European market has generally increased by about one-third. Make up for the possible loss of East Coast cotton cloth in the French market.

"I understand." Han Gang immediately assured, "There will be no delay. Although 30 bags of wool is a bit difficult, it is not impossible."

(End of this chapter)