Chapter 411 Four Bulk Transportation; Beibu Gulf Port
“Now is a period of painful industrial adjustment.” Guo Yang said that in the past two or three years, domestic grain income has increased significantly year after year, and the pressure on grain stocks is indeed great.
Especially corn, the entire country has at least 150 million tons of corn in stock.
Even if corn farmers switch to other crops because of low food prices, this still requires a process.
And the rate of decrease in corn planting area is not slow. Last year, the area decreased by 70 million acres, and this year it decreased by 30 million acres. In two years, a structural adjustment of 100 million acres was achieved.
The corn planting area has dropped to 320 million acres. Guo Yang is very aware that in the past time and space, the domestic corn planting area has been rising, and in the last few years it maintained an area of 600 to 700 million acres.
The current situation is entirely due to the overall increase in yields, which has caused the increase in corn supply to be much greater than the increase in consumption.
On the contrary, although the soybean planting area has increased by 89 million acres, the growth of total output is still smaller than the growth of the consumer market.
It shows that the adjustment is not in place yet. In another year or two, there may be many such situations.
Bao Chunlai sighed: "This adjustment has taken too long. It may be due to the high-yielding characteristics of the Tianyu series. The guaranteed yield makes farmers reluctant to switch to other crops."
Guo Yang did not answer this and asked: "How much corn is there in the Northwest Region?"
"The corn warehouses in the Northwest have a total capacity of 200,000 tons, and they are all full now." Bao Chunlai said dullly: "This year The problem of selling grain has arisen again in various places, and local governments are also calling on enterprises to increase their purchases. We must also adopt an attitude."
"Yes. "Guo Yang nodded, "Let's try our best to coordinate. I think we should try to find a breakthrough in trade. If it doesn't work in the southwest, we can find other markets."
"This is the only way."
Farmers. The difficulty in selling grain is an issue that the government should consider, but the trading company Corn Center also has contract farming in the northwest, and this part of the production must be solved.
Even if the transportation cost is high, we can only accept it.
“It’s a good harvest but not a good harvest!” Guo Yang sighed.
While in Beijing, he noticed the changes in some reports.
At first, there were various praises for the bumper grain harvest and high grain yield records, but after a while, it became impossible to sell the grain, and the grain farmers were on the verge of crying.
Actually, it’s not that it can’t be sold, it’s just that the price doesn’t meet expectations.
Because these farmers always compare prices with previous years when calculating their accounts, but now the yields per unit area are getting higher and higher, and the total output is generally in surplus, so grain prices cannot rise at all.
However, there are grain farmers who can accept this kind of ‘low price’, and export companies also need this kind of low price.
From the perspective of the export market, Brazil and South America also have advantages in corn production costs. China’s corn export market was snatched from the hands of the United States.
Although agricultural production in the United States is temporarily hampered, it is still one of the largest agricultural producers on the planet.
Their agricultural products still need a consumer market.
Once the price is too high, the popularity of domestic corn in the international market will also decline, which will cause some joy and some worry in the market.
In addition, there are circulation issues.
After thinking for a moment, Guo Yang asked again: "What do you plan to do?"
"We can only urge the corn processing plant to see if we can increase production capacity." Bao Chunlai said with a bitter smile, In fact, he knows that the corn processing plant is under great pressure.
"I'll listen too." Guo Yang said in deep thought.
Last year, he specially organized a conference on corn processing and proposed the goal of "relying on technology to eat every corn and grow an industrial tree." I don't know what the progress is now.
…
Jiahe Biotechnology Co., Ltd. is a corn deep processing enterprise under Jiahe Cereals and Oils, with branches in various major corn-producing areas.
Currently, factories have been put into production in three regions: Jilin Province, Henan Province, and Shandong Province.
The main products include starch, feed ingredients and alcohol.
Together, the three factories have a deep processing and conversion capacity of about 2.5 million tons of corn.
"Mr. Bao, it's not that I'm unreasonable. Henan Province is also a major grain-producing province, and its corn output is much higher than that of the northwest. It's not a big deal to look far away from the near!"
"Old Bao, Do you think transporting corn from the northwest to the northeast is a waste of time? Does it sound reliable?”
“Since it can be shipped through the Longhai Line, why not sell it directly to foreign investors?”
Bao Chunlai was frustrated three times in a row and was rejected. The reasons are sound and well-founded and cannot be refuted.
"It seems that the Northwest can no longer continue to purchase grain." Bao Chunlai was quite helpless. "The logistics sales channel is still too single."
According to the situation in the past two years, during this period, there should be people from the Northwest every day. Corn is sent to the southwest, and the trade volume is not bad.
However, the upgrading of improved corn varieties has also spread to the southwest, and the local corn shortage has basically achieved self-sufficiency.
The trading company Corn Center continued to purchase corn in the northwest at the same pace as in previous years, which resulted in the current situation.
Guo Yang witnessed the whole process from the side. At first glance, this seemed to be related to insufficient information collection. In fact, the essential reason was that domestic demand had not been developed.
The domestic corn consumption potential is huge.
This year’s domestic corn production is 224 million tons, and the demand is about 150 million tons. There is still a surplus of more than 70 million tons.
However, the annual domestic corn consumption in the original time and space has remained above 280 million tons for many years, which means that the current production cannot meet the demand.
"I'll give Xiong Jing a call." Guo Yang did not avoid Bao Chunlai and dialed Xiong Jing's number directly.
Xiong Jing is now the general manager of Jiahe Biotechnology Co., Ltd. He once partnered with Fang Xiaozhang. Guo Yang also met him several times and left his number.
The call was quickly answered.
"Hello, Chairman." Xiong Jing didn't expect to receive a call from the big boss suddenly. He thought something had happened, and he was still a little hung up in his heart.
Guo Yang got straight to the point and asked: "With all the projects under construction put into operation, how much corn deep processing capacity can we achieve in a year?"
"Seven million tons."
"Also In other words, there are still 4.5 million tons that have not been put into production?”
"Yes." Xiong Jing thought for a while and said in deep thought: "There is still a very troublesome problem. Even if it is put into production, it will be difficult to produce at full capacity."
Guo Yang raised his eyebrows, "It's also about production capacity. Excess? "
Xiong Jing said: "Yes, in the past two years, companies such as Guofang, Xiwang, and Yufeng have been frantically expanding production capacity, and the competition in the downstream market is also fierce. If all the projects under construction are Put into production, the domestic market may It’s really saturated.”
“What about ethanol?”
“Similarly, the downstream areas of ethanol mainly include liquor, pharmaceuticals, chemical products and fuel ethanol, of which liquor accounts for about 40%. It is the main force in ethanol consumption, with chemical and pharmaceutical products accounting for 30%. However, all three are in excess supply. The only promising one is fuel ethanol, but its promotion is not strong.”
Guo Yang understood what Xiong Jing meant.
Not only is there a surplus in the planting link, but there is also a surplus in the processing link. This is the result of the sudden surge in output.
But these are the troubles of happiness.
The solution to this problem has already been put on the table. It depends on the decision of the upper management.
Next, Guo Yang chatted with Xiong Jing about some production situations, but did not issue specific instructions. He only encouraged persistence and that the construction of the factory should not be delayed.
Especially for fuel ethanol projects, he predicts that the country will further expand the promotion of fuel ethanol and at the same time relax restrictions on using grain to produce fuel ethanol to a certain extent.
This is one of the solutions to food surplus.
After hanging up the phone, Guo Yang communicated with Bao Chunlai for a while and listened in detail to the key links in the grain trade process.
When it was time to get off work, he returned to the office, then called Gaode and detailed his communication with Chen Yanqiu, Bao Chunlai and Xiong Jing.
It is exciting to see a solid foreign consumer market and a solid foundation for the domestic supply chain.
But both of them know that food surplus is the main theme of the future. Even if there are still many poor people on the planet suffering from hunger, this situation cannot be changed.
Today’s global grain trade is already very profitable, all supported by volume. When North American agricultural production returns to normal, competition will become more intense.
Jiahe Grain and Oil needs to straighten out domestic and overseas channels as soon as possible to put itself into a profitable state.
In the last month of this year, the problem of difficulty in selling grain has become increasingly prominent.
First it was reported by various local media, and then spread and fermented on the Internet, triggering a wave of craze.
Huinong.com and NIO Weibo were also affected.
Comments such as bumper harvest but not bumper harvest, and rising agricultural input prices but not food prices are all over the place.
Guo Yang has been staying in the office recently, sorting out the business of various sectors of the group while also dealing with various phone calls.
Some from local counties and cities, some from major grain-producing provinces, and finally the Ministry of Agriculture and the State Grain Administration also sent letters.
At this time, he was talking to Bureau Nie of the Grain Bureau.
"Bureau Nie, Jiahe has done its best in terms of grain purchase, processing, sales and export. This year Jiahe's corn export volume is close to 15 million tons. There is no one in the country who has more than us!"
Nie The bureau mused: "Those who can do more work will do the best. In the short term, only Jia He has this ability, but the grain transportation capacity cannot keep up. Only Jiahe has fully realized the 'four-dispersed' transportation of grain. "
The State Grain Administration has actually been aware of the dilemma of domestic grain circulation since last year, and the country is also aware of it. Dispersed transportation was gradually implemented, but the effect was slow.
In the past, China had no experience in exporting grain on a large scale.
And due to the expected adjustment of the planting structure, that is, corn will be replaced by soybeans or other crops, the transportation cycle will eventually be staggered.
No one expected that there would be circulation problems again this year. In addition, a large part of the corn purchased and stored by the State Reserve last year became inventory.
If we continue to purchase and store this year, we can still hold it, but keeping it like this is not an option. We can only increase exports.
But exporting is not easy.
There is a serious shortage of railway transportation, a shortage of automobile transportation tools, and a serious shortage of receiving and loading facilities. Bureau Nie led a team to conduct an inspection in the Northeast. Most of the granaries and transfer warehouses were used to store bulk grains, but during transportation they became packaged grains, and exports were usually transported by bulk carriers.
How much transport capacity will be lost out of thin air this time?
Especially after comparing Jiahe’s grain supply chain logistics channels that have been developed by large international grain merchants, the gap is even more glaring.
Others’ transfer warehouses are small and have backward facilities. The time it takes to load and unload one truck is enough for Jiahe to complete two or three trucks.
The same is true at the dock. Jiahe may only need three days to fill a ship of bulk cargo, while other companies may need a week or even longer. Port pressure, grain pressure, etc. often occur. Phenomenon...
Bulk storage, bulk loading, bulk transportation, and bulk unloading are the most critical links in grain logistics.
Director Nie remembered that Jiahe Cereals and Oils invested 6 billion yuan when they carried out the decentralization reform. Adding in the previous and later investments, the total figure may be in the tens of billions.
But now, this investment is extremely valuable.
Grain trucks go directly to the fields to collect grain. Bulk grains are transported and stored in transfer warehouses, and transported to port warehouses by rail and road or directly onto ships. Even the iron trucks that transport bulk grains are customized and docked. The loading and unloading equipment is imported, and various supporting facilities also serve the scattered transportation.
This allows Jiahe's grain circulation links to remain orderly and significantly more efficient even when the entire railway transportation capacity is still tight.
Nie Ju believes that Jiahe is indeed a capable person.
"Bureau Nie, Jiahe has really tried his best." Guo Yang pondered for a moment and said: "Jiahe has a grain information platform. It currently shows that all links are operating at full capacity. If it continues, it will be chaotic."
" Do you have any other suggestions?" Director Nie couldn't force it. He called to ask because he saw Jiahe's grain logistics system.
“Leave it to time to digest.” Guo Yang said: “This is the best way in the short term.”
“What about the long term?”
“There are two ways. We can go at the same time, one is to implement large-scale fallow farming, and the other is to increase the promotion of fuel ethanol.”
"Yes." Director Nie returned to his calm tone. These two approaches were also explored by Europe and the United States.
Guo Yang tentatively said: "The conclusion about fallow should be finalized!"
Bureau Nie agreed again. Under the circumstances that the national food security is enough to be guaranteed, the fallow rotation will be carried out to allow the land to recuperate. In line with the scientific concept of development.
Fuel ethanol can also be promoted, but he guessed that this guy mentioned it at this time because he probably wanted the country to relax restrictions on corn processing of fuel ethanol.
The use of grain to process biofuels is a highly controversial topic, especially in China, which attaches great importance to grain.
Although staple foods have become self-sufficient, there are still some gaps in soybeans and cotton that require imports.
On this topic, Director Nie did not want to discuss it in depth, but asked about his experience in the construction of dispersed transportation.
Guo Yang could only express his opinions in a ruminative manner. Fortunately, he had talked a lot with Chen Yanqiu and Bao Chunlai recently, and he still shared a lot of useful information.
Bureau Nie is also very satisfied. Combining some of Jiahe’s experience, we can also improve grain logistics.
In the next few days, various localities took many measures to deal with the difficulty of selling grain. After the heat dissipated, it was farmers who ultimately had to bear all this.
Guo Yang also came to Guizhou Province again and held discussions with Ma Biao, Guo Sheng and other senior officials of the autonomous region and the heads of the three ports in the Beibu Gulf.
Guizhou Beibu Gulf International Port Group has been established at this time. In addition to the three major ports, it also includes Guangxi Coastal Railway Co., Ltd.
The asset reorganization has been completed, but the three major ports still maintain their original names and are not uniformly called.
At first, Guo Yang wanted to transfer part of the equity of Beibu Gulf Port Group, but this was directly rejected. Even if Jiahe funded the construction of the Pinglu Canal, there was no negotiation.
But Gui Province welcomes Jiahe’s investment in the port.
At the meeting, the cooperation between Yangcheng Yantian Port and Hutchison Port was also mentioned many times. In 1992, an old man drew a circle in the south. The next year, Yantian Port and Hutchison Port established a joint venture to jointly build 2 One 35,000-ton container berth and three 50,000-ton container berths.
Since then, several cooperations have been reached.
Yantian Port has also gradually developed and grown.
However, due to the loosening of restrictions and the inability to transfer the equity of Beibu Gulf Port Group, Jiahe chose to establish a wholly-owned company this time to develop, construct and operate 10 berths of more than 10,000 tons and their supporting facilities in Beibu Gulf. facility.
At the same time, it is also planned to build a 1 million-ton biodiesel refinery in Fangchenggang Lingang Industrial Park, but this is a verbal agreement by Guo Yang.
As for the funding for the Pinglu Canal, both parties reached a tacit understanding in the end and did not mention it again.
Guo Yang speculated that when the company is actually being established, Gui Province will definitely come to visit him.
After the negotiation was over, Guo Yang immediately informed the relevant teams of the news.
It is difficult to say whether Beibu Gulf can become the home port of Jiahe Port Department, but for now, it is still worth celebrating.
For example, if agricultural products such as alfalfa, potatoes, and grain from the northwest are exported to Southeast Asia and even the Middle East in the future, they can all go out to sea from the Beibu Gulf instead of taking the Longhai Line to make a big circle.
Guo Yang also specially visited three ports in the Beibu Gulf. Geographically, this place is uniquely endowed by nature.
It is estimated that at least two hundred berths can be developed along the Beibu Gulf. Currently, only 42 have been built and put into use, and the development potential is still huge.
…
One week before New Year’s Day, Guo Yang returned to Jiuquan again.
It was rare for snow to fall on this day, but the snow was not heavy. Standing at the window, Guo Yang saw not the scenery of the North, but the towering Qilian Mountains.
It suddenly occurred to him that he had not paid attention to ecological governance for a while.
The glaciers of the Qilian Mountains, the Dunhuang West Lake Wetland, the southern edge of the Badain Jaran Desert, the Shule River Basin, the Jiuquan Yanshan River and the 780,000 acres of saline-alkali wasteland in the middle reaches of the Tuolai River, the Qilian Mountains and the Wushaoling Ridge Water conservation forest... I thought about the unfinished projects one by one in my mind.
Finally, it turned into a long sigh, "My energy is limited!"
Today, Jiahe has a total of 22 companies, each with its own subsidiaries, and there are several general managers. Hundreds.
With such a large team, no matter how hard he worked, he still couldn't take care of all the links. He probably knew what it felt like to have three thousand beauties in the harem.
You have to have someone you love.
After looking at the Qilian Snow Mountains for a while, Guo Yang suddenly realized that he might prefer the desert to be transformed into a forest, the Gobi to be transformed into a grassland, and the barren beach to be transformed into fertile farmland...
It is also possible. I am caught up in too many trivial matters.
I have to adjust my mood. After thinking about it, Guo Yang thought of aerial photography of China. This program team is still in preparation.
Maybe you can take this opportunity to see the great rivers and mountains.
When he was lost in thought, a knock on the door interrupted his thoughts. Qi Ziwen walked in, "Boss, I have a few things to report to you."
"Sit down."
Guo Yang also took two steps, sat on the sofa, picked up the teapot on the coffee table and poured two cups of tea.
Qi Ziwen said: "The Ministry of Agriculture released the results of this year's crop rotation and fallow pilot.
After a year of crop rotation and fallow in the four provinces of Heiji, Jilin, Liaoning and Mongolia, the fertility and salinity of cultivated land have improved significantly. ;
The groundwater funnel area in Hebei Province, the heavy metal pollution area in Hunan Province, and the graphite area in southwest China have each achieved some results;
Of course, the best belongs to Jiuquan. This is not only a demonstration of the cooperation between government and enterprises, but also the ecological environment in the region. The environment has been significantly improved and food production has been stable.
In view of the success of the rotational fallow pilot and the continuous substantial increase in domestic grain production, the country has decided to expand the scope of the fallow pilot next year. It is expected that the rotational fallow area will reach 60 million acres, accounting for about 3.3% of the total cultivated land area. "
After a pause, Qi Ziwen smiled, "Is this good news or bad news? "
"Well..." Guo Yang pretended to ponder for a moment, "The proportion of fallow land is too small, but it has increased by more than 50 million acres compared with this year, which is barely good news. ”
Qi Ziwen said: "If the fallow ratio is too high, Tianhe will have another headache."
"You can't occupy both ends." Guo Yang smiled and said that in addition to being a national policy, the advancement of fallow is also beneficial. Several ecological management projects in Jiahe.
“Is there anything else?”
Qi Ziwen took out a document and said: “Jahwa Group is officially up for sale.”
This news, Guo Yang had already known it from Ge Wenyao in advance, so it was not a surprise to him, but he still looked at the document.
Modu State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission put up for sale 29.24% of Modu Jahwa shares, plus other assets, for a total price of 5.109 billion.
After browsing quickly, Guo Yang asked: "Besides us, what other companies have registered?"
Qi Ziwen said: "Pingpu, HNA and Fuxing."
Guo Yang raised his eyebrows, a little surprised. He knew that Fuxing had been exposed to Jiahua, but from what rock did HNA come out?
“Hainan Airlines should have jumped out of nowhere.” Qi Ziwen said: “I asked Jahwa about it. HNA had never had contact with Jahwa before. It was only after this listing that it suddenly registered.”< br>
"Forget it, leave him alone." Guo Yang put down the document. In his memory, he only knew that Ping An had acquired Jahwa, and HNA and Fuxing were just foils.
Since Ping An may be inextricably linked to Zhengda and Procter & Gamble, the management team headed by Ge Wenyao has become more wary of Ping An.
HNA and Fuxing... Guo Yang thought about it for a while, and they should not pose a threat to Jiahe.
“Tell Miao Lanchun not to be disturbed by the outside world.”
“Mr. Miao means the same thing.” Qi Ziwen smiled, “Yuze has been in the market since Double Eleven. The feedback is getting better and better, and sales both online and offline are increasing. As long as Jahwa wants to cooperate on products, it will be more inclined to Jiahe.”
"Jiahua shouldn't be stupid." Guo Yang pondered: "What else is there?"
At this time, Qi Ziwen pulled out a few more documents and said: "The announcement issued by multiple ministries and commissions on the expansion of fuel ethanol pilot projects Promotional materials.”
Guo Yang smiled and took it. He glanced at it briefly and said, "It's a combination of Fallow and Fallow, but it doesn't loosen the string of grain processing biofuels."
"You worry too much, after all, it is grain."
In the early years of the century, the country opened a hole for the first time due to too much old grain in stock.
In the past two or three years, due to the great pressure brought by the increase in corn production, the state once again briefly relaxed restrictions, and Jiahe also obtained official permission during this period.
But these companies all have production capacity constraints on corn fuel ethanol.
Guo Yang handed the document to Qi Ziwen and said: "Actually, I am still too greedy. I should be satisfied with crop rotation and fallow."
(End of this chapter)