Chapter 1174 The Steel Trade in 1914
Rhine City.
Recently, East Africa has not paid much attention to the changes in the European war situation. On the one hand, East Africa has been too hungry in the past two years. The colonies alone have expanded by nearly one million square kilometers. On the other hand, East Africa's three The Five Plan is about to be settled.
Colonial expansion was accompanied by the expansion of East Africa's overseas market. East Africa has made great achievements in the Far East, South America, the Middle East, West Africa and other regions. As long as East Africa can maintain market competition in these relatively neutral regions after the war, Even if its advantages are reduced, the size of the overseas market that East Africa can accommodate will exceed that of France and will not be inferior to that of the United Kingdom and the United States.
The United Kingdom has too many colonies with high economic value, and the United States, like East Africa, is conquering overseas markets and is currently the strongest competitor in East Africa's overseas market expansion.
Sweet said to the government officials: "Last year's steel production report has been summarized. Throughout 1914, our country's steel production reached 37 million tons, a record high. Especially affected by the European War in the second half of the year, our country's steel production reached 37 million tons. Steel production increased by more than three million tons. "
"In the same period, U.S. steel production should be around 27 million tons to 30 million tons. The U.S. steel industry has recovered due to war factors, but the previous economic crisis has severely damaged the U.S. steel industry. Production will not be able to return to its peak for the time being, but tomorrow We may face more fierce competition from the U.S. steel industry in 2019. "
"The specific data of European countries is difficult to determine due to the war, but the overall data should have increased, of which approximately 10% of the steel produced in my country. There are four million tons flowing through various forms to In Europe, France, Russia, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire ranked in the top three respectively. ”
France’s luck can be said to be quite bad. Its homeland lacks basic raw materials for the development of the steel industry, and Belgium was captured by the German army. Later, it was another heavy blow to the development of the French steel industry.
Before the war, France needed to import a lot of coal and steel from Belgium, and France’s colonial output was limited. At the same time, due to the war, the young labor force in France flowed to the army, and the industrial population was relatively lacking. Steel and other industries could not This resulted in a severe lack of demand for steel in France, which further contributed to France becoming the largest buyer of East African steel in 1914.
As for Russia, it lacks everything. Its pre-war steel production was only equivalent to France, but the number of people mobilized by Russia far exceeded that of other countries.
It can be said that except for the lack of people, Russia's production of nothing can meet its own needs. In particular, industrial products are extremely dependent on the exports of other industrial countries. However, Russia is not as rich as France, but owes a lot. National debt, which makes Russia's purchasing power very limited.
East Africa does not dare to use the credit of the Russian government as a loan certificate. After all, according to Ernst’s understanding, whether the Russian regime can be preserved in the future is a question mark. If you lend to Russia at this time, you may lose even the principal in the end. Confiscated by the Soviet Russian regime.
The most important of these is Russia's collateral, such as mines, oil fields, etc. Even if it is obtained, East Africa will not be able to develop it in the future.
So the trade between East Africa and Russia is mainly carried out through real gold and silver, or in the form of barter. This makes the East African merchant ships in the Black Sea carry a large amount of cargo every time they return. As for whether East Africa uses it or not, then Two said.
It is easy to understand that the Austro-Hungarian Empire has become East Africa's third largest steel import and export country in Europe. After all, the Austro-Hungarian Empire's steel is inferior to that of France, and the population of the Austro-Hungarian Empire far exceeds that of France.
In addition to orders from the three major countries, many other small European countries are also particularly dependent on East Africa's steel output, which caused East Africa's steel output to reach an astonishing 37 million tons in 1914.
You must know that at the end of the First World War in the previous life, the steel production of the United States was only more than 40 million tons, and East Africa is now less than 3 million tons away from the threshold of 40 million tons.
“There is still room for growth in steel production. Except for other countries in the world outside Europe, most countries, except for a few countries such as the United States, have fallen into temporary steel shortages. The steel production gap in these countries was first Various European steel-producing countries are unable to export due to war."
"This part. The market is not inferior to the European market, so there is still room for further growth in my country's steel industry this year, and the output will exceed 40 million tons soon. "In steel exports, special steel is particularly prominent. In addition to Germany and the United Kingdom, there are many. The country’s military production requires the import of special steel from my country, especially for artillery.”
Before the war broke out, East Africa had already become one of the three largest producers of special steel along with Germany and the United Kingdom. The United Kingdom has a rich history, while Germany has strong technology. As for East Africa, God will give it to them.
Except for tungsten, most of the other major alloy production minerals come from East Africa. East Africa ranks first in manganese, chromium, and aluminum in the world. Copper production is also in the first echelon, and nickel production ranks first in the world. , there is no shortage of lead and zinc. In fact, there are also tungsten mines in East Africa, but the scale of the tungsten mines in East Africa is far smaller than that of the Far Eastern Empire.
This resulted in the East African steel industry, especially in the field of high-end steel product production, taking advantage of the right time, location, and people. Even the old imperialist countries such as France, Russia, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire had to fight in late 1914. Later, it began to increase its orders for East African special steel to cast artillery and other weapons.
“While my country’s steel industry is booming, imports of iron ore and coal from other regions have also increased significantly, especially from the Middle East and South America. The total mineral output of the three regions of Tsarist Russia has grown the fastest.”
The large amount of minerals imported from Russia in East Africa are naturally used to pay off debts. As for the Middle East, in addition to oil, there are also many other minerals, but under the cover of petroleum energy, they are easily ignored.
As for the current eldest brother in the Middle East, the Ottoman Empire has had close relations with East Africa in recent years. The trade between the two countries has been increasing day by day, which has led to the further prosperity of the entire Middle East region's trade with East Africa.
South America is actually relatively short of coal. Nowadays, South American countries have become one of the sources of coal in East Africa due to their limited industrial scale. After all, the west coast of East Africa itself is not rich in coal resources, and iron ore is not No shortage.
After all, the west coast of East Africa was once integrated with South America, so it is not impossible for the mineral resources of the two places to converge. For example, in its previous life, Brazil was the world's second largest exporter of iron ore after Australia, giving birth to fresh water. Mining giants like River Valley.
In contrast, there are large amounts of iron ore in the west coast of East Africa and other areas on the west coast of Africa, such as the Belgian Congo, the Cameroon colony, and Guinea in the previous life.
The coal in East Africa is distributed in the east and south, so it has become profitable to import iron ore from South American countries and then transport it to the west coast of East Africa by sea.
Ernst is quite satisfied with the development of East Africa's steel industry. He added: "The development of the steel industry must pay special attention to areas outside Europe."
"Although now because of the war in Europe The reason is that the steel prices in Europe are the most profitable, and we can earn more by exporting to Europe.”
“But the war in Europe will eventually end, so the European steel trade can only be considered a short-term benefit. If we really want the East African steel industry to develop steadily in the future, we must pay special attention to Asia, Africa and Latin America.”
“Especially investment in overseas minerals, such as Australia, Brazil, Peru and other regions, have great potential. , now is a window period, and our main opponent in overseas expansion is the United States, so East African capital must take the lead when going overseas, especially in backward areas in Asia, Africa and Latin America.”
Once the war in Europe is over, the old powerful countries will definitely try their best to expel the United States and East Africa out of the country once they resume normal production. Therefore, although many businesses in Europe are profitable, it only takes four or five years. This time is enough. East Africa is staking its claim in areas other than Europe and the United States.
(End of this chapter)