Chapter 411: Dispersed Transportation; Beibu Gulf Ports

"Now is the pain period of industrial adjustment." Guo Yang said that in the past two or three years, domestic grain production has increased significantly year after year, and the pressure on grain reserves is indeed very high.

Especially corn, the country's total corn inventory is at least over 1.5 million tons.

Even if corn farmers switch to other crops due to low food prices, this will also take time.

Moreover, the speed at which corn planting area is decreasing is not slow. It decreased by 7000 million mu last year and another 3000 million mu this year, achieving a structural adjustment of 1 million mu in two years.

The corn planting area has dropped to 3.2 million mu. Guo Yang is very clear that the domestic corn planting area has been increasing all the way in the original time and space, and finally maintained an area of ​​6 to 7 million mu for many years.

The current situation is caused entirely by the overall increase in yields, which has resulted in the increase in corn supply being far greater than the increase in consumption.

On the contrary, although the soybean planting area has increased by 80 to 90 million mu, the total output growth is still lower than the growth of the consumer market.

This shows that the adjustments are not yet in place. In another one or two years, this kind of situation may occur more frequently.

Bao Chunlai sighed, "This adjustment has taken too long. It may be due to the high-yield characteristics of the Tianyu series. With a guaranteed yield, farmers are reluctant to switch to other crops."

Guo Yang did not respond and asked, "How much corn is there in the Northwest Region?"

"The corn storage capacity in the northwest is 20 tons in total, and it's all full now." Bao Chunlai said dully: "This year, it's difficult to sell grain in various places again. Local governments are also calling on companies to increase purchases, and we have to show our attitude as well."

"Yes." Guo Yang nodded. "Try your best to coordinate. I think we should try to find a breakthrough in trade. If the southwest doesn't work, we can look for other markets."

"It can only be this way."

The difficulty that farmers have in selling their 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 output must be addressed.

Even if the shipping cost is high, we have to accept it.

"It's a good yield but not a good harvest!" Guo Yang sighed.

While in Beijing, he noticed the changing trajectory of some reports.

At first, there were all kinds of praises for the bumper grain harvest and the high grain output records, but after a while, the grain became difficult to sell, and the farmers were left in tears.

In fact, 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 they do their calculations, but now the yield per unit area is getting higher and higher, and the total output is also in overall surplus, so food prices cannot rise at all.

However, there are also grain farmers who can accept this 'low price', and export companies also need this low price.

In terms of the export market, Brazil and South America still have advantages in corn production costs. China's corn export market was snatched from the United States.

Although the agricultural production in the United States is temporarily troubled, it is still one of the largest agricultural producers on the planet.

Its agricultural products still need consumer markets.

Once the price is too high, the popularity of domestic corn in the international market will also decline, which will cause some people to be happy and some to be worried in the market.

In addition, there are problems with circulation.

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 its production capacity." Bao Chunlai said with a wry smile. In fact, he knew that the corn processing plant was under great pressure.

"Let me listen too." Guo Yang murmured.

Last year, he organized a special meeting on corn processing and proposed the goal of "using technology to squeeze every grain of corn to its full potential, and growing an industrial tree from a grain of corn." I don't know what the progress is now.

...

Jiahe Biotechnology Co., Ltd. is a corn deep-processing enterprise under Jiahe Grain and Oil, and has branches in all major corn producing areas.

Currently, factories have been put into production in Jilin Province, Henan Province and Shandong Province.

The main products are starch, feed ingredients and alcohol.

The three factories together have a deep processing and conversion capacity of approximately 250 million tons of corn.

"Boss Bao, it's not that I don't understand people. Henan Province is also a major grain-producing province. The corn production is much higher than that of the northwest. It's not a big deal to give up the near and go for the far!"

"Old Bao, do you think it's credible to ship corn from the northwest to the northeast?"

“Since it can be transported out via the Longhai Line, why not sell it directly to foreign companies?”

Bao Chunlai was rejected three times in a row, and the reasons for his rejection were so reasonable and well-founded that it was impossible to refute.

"It seems that we can no longer purchase grain in the northwest," Bao Chunlai said helplessly, "The logistics and sales channels are still too limited."

Based on the situation in the previous two years, corn from the Northwest should be shipped to the Southwest every day during this period, and the trade volume should be good.

However, the trend of upgrading corn varieties has also reached the southwest, and the local corn gap has basically been self-sufficient.

However, the Corn Center of the trading company is still purchasing corn in the northwest at the same pace as in previous years, resulting in the current situation.

Guo Yang witnessed the whole process. At first glance, this seemed to be related to insufficient information collection. In fact, the fundamental reason was that domestic demand had not been developed.

The domestic corn consumption potential is huge.

This year, domestic corn production is 2.24 million tons, and demand is about 1.5 million tons, so there is still a surplus of more than 7000 million tons.

However, in the original time and space, the domestic annual corn consumption has remained above 2.8 million tons for many years, which means that the current output cannot meet the demand.

"I'll call Xiong Jing." Guo Yang did not avoid Bao Chunlai and directly dialed Xiong Jing's number.

Xiong Jing is now the general manager of Jiahe Biotechnology Co., Ltd. He used to be a partner with Fang Xiaozhang. Guo Yang had met him several times and left his number.

The call was quickly answered.

"Hello, Chairman." Xiong Jing did not expect to receive a call from the big boss suddenly. He thought something had happened and felt a little nervous.

Guo Yang got straight to the point and asked, "If all the projects under construction are put into production, how much corn deep processing capacity can be achieved in one year?"

"Eighteen million tons."

“Does that mean there are still 450 million tons that have not been put into production?”

"Yes." Xiong Jing thought for a moment and said, "There is another very troublesome problem. Even if it is put into production, it will be difficult to produce at full capacity."

Guo Yang raised his eyebrows, "Is it also overcapacity?"

Xiong Jing said: "Yes, in the past two years, companies such as Guoliang, Xiwang, and Yufeng have been frantically expanding their production capacity, and the competition in the downstream market is also very fierce. If we wait until all the projects under construction are put into production, the domestic market may really be saturated."

“What about ethanol?”

"Similarly, the downstream sectors of ethanol mainly include liquor, medicine, chemical products and fuel ethanol. Among them, liquor accounts for about 40%, which is the main consumer of ethanol, and chemical and pharmaceutical products account for 30%, but all three are in oversupply. The only hope is fuel ethanol, but the promotion is not strong enough!"

Guo Yang understood what Xiong Jing meant.

Not only is there an oversupply in the planting stage, but there is also an oversupply in the processing stage. This is the result of the sudden surge in production.

But these are happy troubles.

The solution to this problem has already been put on the table, it just depends on how the top leaders decide.

Next, Guo Yang talked to Xiong Jing about some production situations, but did not issue any specific instructions. He just encouraged them to persevere and not to delay the construction of the factory.

Especially for the fuel ethanol project, he expects the country to further expand the promotion of fuel ethanol and at the same time relax the restrictions on the production of fuel ethanol from grain to a certain extent.

This is one of the solutions to the problem of food surplus.

After hanging up the phone, Guo Yang talked with Bao Chunlai for a while and listened in detail to the key links in the grain trade process.

He returned to the office when it was almost time to get off work, then called Gaode and told him in detail about his communication with Chen Yanqiu, Bao Chunlai and Xiong Jing.

The stability of foreign consumer markets and the solid foundation of the domestic supply chain are certainly exciting.

But both of them knew that food surplus would be the main theme of the future, and even if there were still many poor people starving on the planet, it would not change this situation.

Today's global food trade is already marginally profitable, supported entirely by volume. Once North American agricultural production returns to normal, competition will surely become even more intense.

Jiahe Grain and Oil needs to straighten out its domestic and overseas channels as soon as possible to put itself into a profitable state.

In the last month of the year, the problem of selling grain became more and more prominent.

It was first reported by local media, and then spread on the Internet, triggering a wave of enthusiasm.

Huinong.com and NIO’s Weibo account were also affected.

There are many comments such as "good harvest but not good harvest" and "only the prices of agricultural inputs have increased but not the prices of grain".

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.

There were letters from local counties and cities, as well as major grain-producing provinces. Finally, the Ministry of Agriculture and the National Grain Administration also sent letters.

At this time, he was talking to Director Nie from the Grain Bureau.

"Director Nie, Jiahe has done its best in grain procurement, processing, sales, and export. This year, Jiahe's corn exports alone are close to 1500 million tons. There is no other company in the country that exports more than us!"

Director Nie pondered and said, "Those who are capable should do more work. In the short term, only Jiahe has the ability to do this. The grain transportation capacity cannot keep up. Only Jiahe has fully realized the 'scattered' transportation of grain."

In fact, the National Grain Administration has been aware of the difficulties in domestic grain circulation since last year, and the country has also been gradually promoting decentralized transportation, but the effect has been slow.

The country has no experience in large-scale grain exports in the past.

Moreover, due to the expectation of adjusting the planting structure, that is, changing corn to soybeans or other crops, the transportation cycle will eventually be staggered.

No one expected that there would be problems with circulation again this year. In addition, a large portion of the corn stored in the national reserve last year became inventory.

We can store more this year, but keeping it like this is not a solution. We can only increase exports.

But exporting is easier said than done.

Railway transportation is seriously insufficient, automobile transportation is insufficient, and loading and unloading facilities are seriously insufficient. Director Nie led a team to the Northeast for an investigation. Most of the granaries and transit warehouses store bulk grain, but when transported, they are packaged, and exports are usually transported by bulk carriers.

How much transportation capacity would be lost in this round trip?
Especially when compared with the grain supply chain logistics channels that Jiahe has developed by learning from major international grain traders, the gap is even more glaring.

Other people’s transit warehouses are small and their facilities are backward, so it takes Jiahe only enough time to load and unload two or three trucks in the time it takes to load and unload one truck.

The same situation applies to the docks. For a bulk cargo ship, Jiahe may only need three days to fill it, while other companies may need a week or even longer. There are also frequent cases of ships being held up at the port and trucks being held up by grain.

Bulk storage, bulk loading, bulk transportation and bulk unloading are the most critical links in grain logistics.

Director Nie remembered that Jiahe Grain and Oil invested 60 billion yuan when it was carrying out the decentralized reform. Adding the investments before and after, the total figure may be over billion yuan.

But now it seems that this investment is extremely valuable.

Grain trucks go directly into the fields to collect grain, bulk grain is transported and stored in transit warehouses, transported to port warehouses by rail and road, or directly loaded onto ships. Even the iron trucks for transporting bulk grain are customized, the loading and unloading equipment at the docks is imported, and various supporting facilities also serve the scattered transportation.

This ensures that Jiahe's grain circulation process remains orderly and much more efficient even when the entire railway transport capacity is still tight.

Director Nie believes that Jiahe is indeed a capable person.

"Director Nie, Jiahe has indeed tried its best." Guo Yang pondered for a moment and said, "Jiahe has a grain information platform. Currently, it shows that all links are operating at full capacity. If there are more, it will be a mess."

"Do you have any other suggestions?" Director Nie couldn't force him. He called to ask because he was inspired by Jiahe's grain logistics system.

"Let time digest it." Guo Yang said: "This is the best method in the short term."

"What about the long term?"

"There are two paths that can be taken simultaneously: one is to leave land fallow on a large scale, and the other is to increase the promotion of fuel ethanol."

"Yeah." Director Nie returned to his indifferent tone. These two paths were also practices explored by Europe and the United States.

Guo Yang tentatively said, "The fallow period should have been decided!"

Director Nie nodded again. Under the premise of ensuring national food security, rotating crops and letting the land recuperate is in line with the scientific outlook on development.

Fuel ethanol can also be promoted, but he guessed that this guy brought it up at this time probably because he wanted the country to relax restrictions on corn processing of fuel ethanol.

The processing of biofuels from grain is a very controversial topic, especially in China where grain is particularly important.

Although the country has achieved self-sufficiency in staple food, there is still a certain gap in soybeans and cotton and they have to rely on imports.

Director Nie did not want to go into depth on this topic, but instead asked about the construction experience of decentralized transportation.

Guo Yang could only rack his brains to speak out his own views. Fortunately, he had talked a lot with Chen Yanqiu and Bao Chunlai recently, and he was able to say a lot of useful things.

Director Nie was also very satisfied. Combining some of Jiahe’s experience, he could also improve the food logistics.

In the next few days, various places came up with a number of countermeasures to the difficulty in selling grain. After the heat subsided, the farmers ultimately had to bear the brunt of it all.

Guo Yang also came to Guangxi 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.

The Guangxi Beibu Gulf International Port Group had been established at this time. In addition to the three major ports, it also included the Guangxi Coastal Railway Co., Ltd.

The asset restructuring has been completed, but the three major ports still retain their original names and have not been unified.

At the beginning, Guo Yang wanted to acquire part of the shares of Beibu Gulf Port Group, but this was directly rejected. Even if Jiahe invested in the construction of the Pinglu Canal, there was no room for negotiation.

But Guangxi Province welcomes Jiahe's investment in the port.

At the meeting, the cooperation between Yangcheng Yantian Port and Hutchison Ports was mentioned repeatedly. In 1992, an old man drew a circle in the south. The following year, Yantian Port and Hutchison Ports established a joint venture to jointly build two 2-ton and three 3.5-ton container berths.

Since then, several collaborations have been reached.

Yantian Port has also gradually grown and developed.

However, due to the lifting of restrictions and the inability to acquire the shares of Beibu Gulf Port Group, Jiahe chose to set up a wholly-owned company this time to develop, construct and operate 10 berths of more than tons and their supporting facilities in Beibu Gulf.

At the same time, there are also plans to build a 100 million ton biodiesel refinery in the Fangchenggang Port Industrial Park, but this is a verbal agreement from Guo Yang.

As for the funding for the Pinglu Canal, both parties tacitly agreed not to mention it again in the end.

Guo Yang speculated that when the company is really set up, Guangxi Province will definitely come knocking on the door.

After the negotiations were over, Guo Yang immediately informed the relevant team of the news.

It is hard to say whether Beibu Gulf can become the home port of Jiahe Port Department, but for now, it is still worth celebrating.

For example, agricultural products such as alfalfa, potatoes, and grain from the northwest can be exported to Southeast Asia and even the Middle East in the future through the Beibu Gulf instead of taking the Longhai Line.

Guo Yang also made a special visit to the three ports in the Beibu Gulf. In terms of geographical location, this place can be said to be uniquely advantageous.

It is estimated that at least 42 berths can be developed along the Beibu Gulf. Currently, only berths have been built and put into use, so there is still great potential for development.

...

A week before New Year's Day, Guo Yang returned to Jiuquan again.

It snowed on this day, a rare day, but the snow was not heavy. Guo Yang stood by the window and saw not the scenery of the north, but the majestic Qilian Mountains.

He suddenly remembered that he had not paid attention to ecological governance for some time.

The glaciers of Qilian Mountains, the West Lake wetlands in Dunhuang, the southern edge of Badain Jaran Desert, the Shule River basin, the 78 acres of saline-alkali wasteland along the mountains and rivers in Jiuquan and the middle reaches of Taolai River, the water conservation forests on Qilian Mountains and Wushaoling... one by one, the unfinished projects came to my mind.

Finally, it turned into a long sigh, "Energy is limited!"

Today, Jiahe has a total of 22 companies, each with its own subsidiaries, and there are hundreds of general managers alone.

With such a large team, no matter how hard he tries, he can't take care of all the aspects. He probably knows what it feels like to have three thousand beauties in the harem.

You have to have someone you love.

After watching the Qilian Snow Mountain for a while, Guo Yang suddenly realized that he might prefer deserts turning into forests, Gobi deserts turning into grasslands, and wastelands turning into fertile fields...

It could also be that you are bogged down by too many trivial matters.

I need to adjust my mood. As I was thinking, Guo Yang thought of aerial photography of China, a program that the production team is still preparing for.

Maybe you can take this opportunity to see the beautiful scenery.

When he was lost in thought, a knock on the door interrupted his thoughts. Qi Ziwen walked in and said, "Boss, I have a few things to report to you."

"sit."

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 has released the results of this year's crop rotation and fallow pilot project.

After a year of crop rotation and fallow, the fertility and salinity of cultivated land in Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning and Inner Mongolia provinces have improved significantly;
The groundwater funnel area in Hebei Province, the heavy metal pollution area in Hunan Province, and the graphite area in the southwest have each achieved some results;
Of course, the best belongs to Jiuquan. This is not only a demonstration of cooperation between government and enterprises, but also the ecological environment in the region has improved significantly and grain production has stabilized.

In view of the success of the crop rotation and fallow pilot program and the continuous and substantial increase in domestic grain production, the state has decided to expand the scope of the fallow pilot program next year. It is expected that the crop rotation and fallow area will reach 6000 million mu, accounting for about 3.3% of the total cultivated land area. "

After a pause, Qi Ziwen smiled and asked, "Is this good news or bad news?"

"Hmm..." Guo Yang pretended to ponder, "The proportion of fallow land is too small, but it has increased by more than 50 million mu compared to this year, which is barely good news."

Qi Ziwen said: "If the proportion of fallow land is too high, Tianhe will have a headache again."

"We can't have it both ways," Guo Yang said with a smile. In addition to being a national policy, the promotion of fallow land is also beneficial to several ecological management projects in Jiahe.

"What else?"

Qi Ziwen took out a document and said, "Jiahua Group has officially been put up for sale."

Guo Yang had already learned this news from Ge Wenyao in advance, so it was not a surprise to him, but he still started to read the document.

The Shanghai State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission has listed for sale 29.24% of Shanghai Jahwa's shares, plus other assets, for a total price of 51.09 billion yuan.

After a quick glance, Guo Yang asked, "Besides us, which other companies have registered?"

Qi Ziwen said: "Pingpu, HNA and Fuxing."

Guo Yang raised his eyebrows, a little surprised. He knew that Fuxing had contact with Jahwa, but where did this HNA come from?
"HNA must have suddenly jumped out." Qi Ziwen said: "I asked Jahwa, and HNA had never had any contact with Jahwa before. It was only suddenly registered after the listing and sale."

"Forget it, ignore him." Guo Yang put the document down. In his memory, he only knew that Ping An acquired Jahwa. It seemed that HNA and Fuxing were just supporting roles.

And because Ping An may have close ties with Charoen Pokphand and Procter & Gamble, the management team led by Ge Wenyao has become more wary of Ping An.

HNA and Fuxing... Guo Yang thought about it and felt that they should not pose a threat to Jiahe.

"Tell Miao Lanchun not to be disturbed by the outside world."

"That's what Mr. Miao meant." Qi Ziwen smiled. "Yuze's feedback in the market has been getting better and better since Double Eleven. Both online and offline sales are rising. As long as Jahwa still wants to cooperate on products, it will be more inclined to Jiahe."

"Jiahua shouldn't be stupid." Guo Yang pondered and said, "What else?"

At this time, Qi Ziwen pulled out a few more documents and said, "Materials issued by multiple ministries and commissions on expanding the pilot promotion of fuel ethanol."

Guo Yang smiled and took a quick look after taking it. "It is a combination of the two, but it does not loosen the tight control of grain processing and biofuel."

"You're worrying too much. After all, it's food."

In the first few years of the century, the country made concessions for the first time because there was 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 country once again temporarily relaxed its restrictions, and Jiahe also obtained official approval 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, you are still too greedy. You should be satisfied with crop rotation and fallow."

(End of this chapter)