Nanyang Storm 1864

Chapter 240 Canned Goods and Tobacco Industry

Zheng Guohui was unreserved in his efforts to develop the Chu State's economy, and he brought out all his ideas. For example, he was the first to come up with ideas like cigarettes and canned food.

Canned food can be said to have been a success. Canned foods such as candied pineapple, candied orange, candied loquat, candied olive, candied orange, candied lychee, candied mango, etc. have been developed one after another. They are packaged in 1-liter glass jars and are very popular after being launched on the market.

Our products are exported to the northern mainland, Indochina Peninsula, Hong Kong Island, Singapore and even to the Indian subcontinent. The sales market has been gradually opened up and we will also explore the Fuso market in the future.

These long-lasting canned tropical fruits are completely absent from the market in East Asia and even Southeast Asia.

Leaving aside the northern regions, these fruits are all tropical specialties. After fresh processing, they are soaked in sugar water and sealed directly with a lid without any food additives.

In the cool and low-temperature autumn and winter seasons, the shelf life is about 2 to 3 months after the end of the month, and longer in winter.

Even in summer

As long as it is placed in a cool environment strictly as required, it can be guaranteed not to deteriorate for 15 days.

So it is stated on the can and on the colored paper;

Please consume within 15 days. If the average temperature is below 15°C, the canned food can be stored for up to 60 days. Do not consume after this period.

As for whether the customers who purchase the goods are literate?
That was not considered by the product sellers. There were no consumer protection laws in those days, so the only response was verbal urging from the store owner selling canned fruit.

"Don't keep it too long after you buy it. Try to eat it within two weeks. It will go bad if you keep it that long."

"The weather has been getting cold lately, but it shouldn't last more than a month. It would be a shame if such a good thing went bad."

How popular are these canned syrups?
It was first launched in major cities in China, such as Guangzhou, Shanghai, Nanjing and Beijing. It first appeared in the "Nanfengtang" chain store and soon triggered a buying boom.

The "Nanfengtang" chain store is famous for selling Nanyang products. Initially, it only sold tropical pineapples, bananas and other fruits, but now it has developed into a comprehensive daily necessities store, selling a wide variety of fresh items.

For example, colorful large shells, large conches, exquisite corals, flavorful coconut sugar, high-quality farm tools including shovels, axes, saws, plows, rakes, etc., as well as soaps, candles, and scented oils, and now extremely tempting canned fruits have been added.

These canned fruits in glass bottles are crystal clear in red and juicy in white. They look so tempting that you can't help but want to take a bite.

The various strange and exotic tropical fruits have aroused people's curiosity.

Only high-quality customers can patronize "Nanfengtang", who are at least well-off. Otherwise, they cannot afford the expensive pineapples and bananas, and the higher prices exclude ordinary people.

Therefore, when new varieties are put on the shelves, many customers are willing to buy and try them.

This purchase was a huge success, and it immediately caused a sensation, like a car that couldn't be stopped. Word of mouth from neighbors spread the word, and the reputation of the canned fruit soared instantly.

Women and children, in particular, simply cannot resist the sweet, tender and juicy tropical fruits. Even restaurants have been drawn into this craze and simply open a few cans to serve the dishes, pairing them with beef, mutton and hot pot.

in this era

When autumn and winter come in the north, there are almost no vegetables. The only thing edible is cabbage. This is true not only for ordinary people, but also for wealthy families and even the imperial family of the Celestial Empire.

In the imperial court
Only the emperor and empress, the supreme officials of the court, could enjoy the small amount of fresh vegetables delivered from the south through the express post stations, and the varieties were not many.

As for the concubines and the even larger number of eunuchs, they ate cabbage every day. Sometimes they stewed cabbage with meat, sometimes they roasted chicken with cabbage, cut the cabbage into shreds and made a cold salad, or they stir-fried the cabbage, or braised the cabbage in oil. It was cabbage over and over again.

From this
When canned fruits appeared in the northern market, they attracted the heartfelt love of people from all walks of life. It is said that even the emperor became addicted to them and ate different canned fruits every day.

It is not known whether this news is true or not, but there is a popular saying now;

"When I get rich tomorrow, I'll eat canned fruit every day."

Actually

Compared with the more expensive seasonal fresh fruits, the price of canned fruits is not high, which is also the main reason why they can be shipped in large quantities.

Depending on the type of canned tropical fruit, the price of a can of fruit ranges from 60 to 100 wen.

About a dozen cans, worth one silver dollar.

Such a low price makes it affordable for ordinary people. You can grit your teeth and buy a can of fruit for your child to lick his mouth, which makes you feel very happy.

Among wealthier families, buying canned fruit frequently has become a common practice, cultivating a large number of loyal customers, which is a stable market.

In this era, most families were large. In the more affluent families, there were often more than ten, twenty or thirty people, many women and children. Buying one or two cans of food would definitely not be enough to share.

For such a well-off family, it is common to buy twenty or thirty cans of fruit every week.

This means spending one or two silver dollars, which many wealthy families in these big cities can afford. This is a huge and expanding market.

Gradually, many people began to use canned tropical fruits when visiting relatives and friends, and at weddings and funerals, and it was very prestigious to give them as gifts.

Invisibly, the market demand for canned tropical fruits is growing.

This made Nanfengtang's business boom, and even boosted the sales of other products. More and more chain stores were opened, reaching 87 in various cities in the northern continent, and the business was still expanding rapidly.

These "Nanfengtang" stores are often located in prosperous areas of the city. They have large storefronts, a wide variety of products, and good business, becoming the focus of many people's attention.

When canned tropical fruits entered the blank market, there was a hot selling scene in Hong Kong, Singapore, Batavia, and as far away as Kolkata, Chennai and Mumbai.

The Fuso and Ryukyu markets that will be opened in the future will surely be no less popular in places like Tokyo and Edo.

More than two dozen canning factories have sprung up in Mindanao. While focusing on canning tropical fruits, they are also planning to develop new varieties and expand their product lines. This is a good business that brings in a steady stream of lucrative income.

Related industries directly create more than 1.3 million jobs, plus the employees of upstream glass factories and quartz sand mine development, the total number is about .

If it is expanded to fruit plantations, transportation and intermediary links, it will benefit about hundreds of thousands of farmers, forming a very competitive food industry.

Today, Nan Feng Tang is headquartered in Manila and is opening stores throughout Southeast Asia. It currently has 11 stores, including two in Hong Kong and three in Batavia.

Next Step

More "Nan Feng Tang" stores will be opened in cities such as Bandung and Surabaya in the Dutch East Indies, Penang (British Strait Governorate), Kuala Lumpur, Saigon (French Governorate), Da Nang, Hue, Calcutta (British Governorate of India), Mumbai, Hyderabad, and Chennai to expand the market. The Chu government has also invested in and built more than ten fruit processing plants in Cebu and Greater Manila to rapidly expand production.

The hot sales of canned fruits also boosted the sales of other products of the Chu State. For example, steel farm tools gradually opened up sales in the northern and Southeast Asian markets due to their high quality and reasonable prices, and won a good reputation.

Light industrial products such as matches, candles, soap, kerosene lamps, needles and thread have also won the favor of people from all over the country and gradually formed a purchasing habit.

Today, all canned fruits from Nanyang are sold under the "Nanyang" brand, which is owned by "Nanfengtang". The Chu royal family holds 26% of the shares of "Nanfengtang".

Each branch of the Zheng family in Tongzhou also holds varying amounts of Nanfengtang shares, totaling 52%, giving them an absolute controlling position.

The Chu government also holds a 13% stake.

The rest are some important military and political figures of the Chu State. There are about 173 shareholders in total, holding a total of 9% of the shares, which makes the background of this company very strong.

Without such a strong background, it would be impossible to do business smoothly in various countries and the northern continent.

Zheng Guohui has no plans to let the royal family invest in the tobacco business he is proposing. Instead, he wants the government to take the lead in investment and allow market merchants to enter, thus creating a competitive situation with multiple cigarette brands.

The government regulates the economy by levying taxes. With future development, it is very likely to become comparable to the salt tax on the mainland and become one of the pillars of government fiscal revenue.

If the tobacco business is done well, its profits will be no less than those of the canned fruit industry, and its prospects are very bright.

However, this market needs to be cultivated slowly, and it is impossible to be like the canned fruit market, which will become popular once it is launched and people from all over the country will flock to it.

The biggest opportunity to ignite the tobacco market should be war.

It's a pity that he didn't catch up with the American Civil War, otherwise he could have made a fortune just by supplying cigarettes to both the Northern and Southern armies.

When people are experiencing unprecedented anxiety and fear, tobacco can soothe the nerves and provide temporary comfort.

Long-term cigarette smoking can also be mildly addictive.

It is precisely because of the characteristics of cigarettes that a large-scale war will inevitably lead to the emergence of a large number of smokers, and this is a good opportunity for the Chu State tobacco industry to intervene.

The largest market is still northern China.

With the tobacco industry's output in Angeles City, there is no need to open up other new markets. The mainland alone is enough to satisfy people's hunger and thirst.

Therefore, the tobacco planting industry in Angeles City is planned to expand three to four times next year, and double again the year after based on the expansion.

At that time, depending on the sales of cigarettes, we will consider whether to expand it to several nearby areas to further expand the production of high-quality tobacco and make long-term plans.

Zheng Guohui recently examined the resource characteristics of the Hainan Islands and found that the country's prosperity can only be achieved by focusing on the mining industry and developing light and heavy industries simultaneously.

The copper mines in the Hainan Islands not only have large reserves, numerous mining sites, and high quality, but are also easy to transport, making them a key mining product for development.

As long as high-quality copper ingots are produced, the market is almost unlimited. The demand for copper in the northern Shenzhou continent has caused the price of copper to remain high.

In various parts of Southeast Asia, high-quality copper ingots are also in great demand.

Therefore, in the production plan, the No. 2 blast furnace of the Batangas Steel Plant is a copper smelting blast furnace, which is expected to be put into production at the end of the year and increase copper production to about 3.6 tons per year.

Based on the current market price of US$220 per ton of copper ingots, this item alone can bring the Chu State more than US$700 million in revenue, equivalent to more than 700 million silver dollars.

On the world market
The price of steel is generally not high. One ton of wrought iron is worth about six to seven US dollars in Europe, about 12 US dollars in East Asia, and about 14 US dollars in India. The value of fine steel is almost double that.

Steel trade also has entry barriers with tariffs in various regions. To be honest, it is not a good business.

However, the Chu government wanted to vigorously develop the steel industry, not focusing on the immediate profits, but to revitalize a series of downstream industries by vigorously developing the steel industry.

For example, the various steel processing industries that are now booming include rolling mills, foundries, agricultural tool factories, steel wire plate factories, wire rope factories, iron mesh factories, anchor chain factories, shipyards, etc. The next step is to prepare for the development of machine tool factories, steam engine factories, mining machinery factories, etc., gradually touching the high-end industries of the steam industrial revolution.

Without upstream steel mills, where would this series of downstream industries come from?

Some people may wonder, who are we selling all these factories to?
This is groundless worry. Today, the northern China has opened its doors to the foreigners' powerful ships and guns. A large market of hundreds of millions of people is completely open, which is no longer a new thing.

Even if the Chu State did not sign a trade treaty with the Shenzhou Celestial Empire, the Chu State's trading companies could find loopholes and introduce a few foreign faces to establish nominally foreign-funded companies and sell products to the Shenzhou mainland with impunity.

As long as the customs duties are paid, this is not a problem.

Relying on its vast official connections and marriage alliances in mainland China, Chu's products could leverage many advantages, and its merchants were much more powerful than those of the British, French, and Americans.

Able to penetrate into more markets and win more orders.

When the Chu State's industry truly develops and reaches a certain scale and output, with its close geographical advantage and high-quality and low-priced goods, what will European merchants such as Britain, France and the United States use to compete?
This is called: foreigners pave the way, and Chu enjoys the coolness.

The State of Chu itself was not inactive. After opening up new markets in the north, its next step was to sign trade and tariff treaties with various countries in Southeast Asia and enter the Southeast Asian market.

With the bloody Battle of Lake Ikeda as an example, I believe that these weak South Sea countries will not cause any obstacles and should be able to sign the contract smoothly.

After two months of rest, the sailing fleet will set sail again.

This time, the fleet will be divided into two, with one fleet heading south to Batavia and the Kingdom of Bali in the east, as well as other local kingdoms. The main purpose is to sign a tariff and trade treaty according to the model.

A fleet visited the British Straits Governorate and the French Saigon Governorate, and signed trade treaties with the various Malayan princely states, the Sumatran princely states, the Kingdom of Vietnam in Indochina, the Kingdom of Siam, the Kingdom of Burma, etc.

By next year
The sailing fleet will also sail to the Indian subcontinent, the Arabian Sea and the Red Sea, visit the more distant Middle East and sign trade treaties.

This is an established agenda and will not change unless there is a major situation.

its purpose

It is to lay a smooth path for the future export of industrial products by the Chu State and to safeguard its own interests.

The most direct and brutal way to safeguard one's own interests in this era is war.

(End of this chapter)