I'm in the county town, and you say I'm a big shot?

Chapter 536: For me personally, agriculture, or rather, industry, carries more weight than finance.
Why are the Huang siblings always trying to introduce me to people in the finance industry?
"Thanks, Peach. I don't need it for now," Fang Qingye typed.

Fang Qingye kept his distance from these young masters.

The two then talked about Fang Qingye and Qiao Yongfeng going to Minghui Tea House the next day with Director Liu from the Ministry of Commerce and General Manager Ning from COFCO Group.

"Ye Zi, I don't know much about agriculture and trade, but it's always good to get to know them," Huang Tao typed.

"Agriculture, or food, is one of the national security issues. In particular, its importance to our country is no less than that of finance. People can live without food.

"Ye Zi, I feel like you're playing a big game?" Huang Tao suddenly typed.

Ah?
Am I playing a grand strategy?

Bai Ou seems to have said the same thing.

Fang Qingye thought for a moment and typed: "I don't have that much ability. I just want to be a pawn with some weight. For me personally, agriculture or industry is more important than finance."

"Soybeans are a better choice."

"Oh, so that's what you think." Huang Tao seemed to be deep in thought.

"Okay, Peach, I'm going to eat now. I need to rest for a while before I have an appointment."

"Yes, yes. I'm going back to the US in a few days too. Come visit me in the US sometime!"

"OK!"

I really should go to the United States.

Bye-bye, good luck, Pikachu!

Upon seeing this message, Fang Qingye smiled.

She's still that chuunibyou (delusional) girl.

Around 1 p.m., Fang Qingye and Qiao Yongfeng drove an Audi to Minghui Tea House.

Minghui Tea House is located in Dajue Temple in Xishan. When Fang Qingye and his group arrived, they found the place to be deep, secluded, and tranquil, with dense shade covering the sky. The mountain breeze swept away the sweltering heat of Yanjing City, making them feel refreshed and relaxed.

According to Qiao Yongfeng, the tea house here consists of six unique tea rooms. The ones they are going to today are scattered in the north and south courtyards, presenting a harmonious and symmetrical beauty.

The place where they drink tea today is called Qinghui Pavilion.

After the two entered, they saw two people sitting in the tea room. One was a man in his forties wearing glasses, who was Director Liu whom Fang Qingye had met in Jinghai. The other was an older, chubby man who should be General Manager Ning from COFCO.

Upon seeing Fang Qingye and the others enter, both of them stood up.

"This is Fang Qingye, isn't he very young?" Director Liu said to President Ning with a smile. "I was quite surprised when I met him in Jinghai."

"Indeed, heroes have always emerged from among the young," President Ning chuckled.

"Hello, Mr. Ning."

"Hello, Director Liu."

Fang Qingye shook hands with the two men, and everyone went their separate ways. It seemed that Director Liu was hosting today. Pointing to the teapot on the table, he said to Fang Qingye, "President Fang, last time I went to Jinghai, you served me Junshan tea from your local area at Puxian Temple. Today it's Yanjing, but Yanjing doesn't produce tea, so I'll serve you tea from your Jiangsu Province. Guess what kind of tea it is?"

After speaking, Director Liu poured a cup for everyone. Fang Qingye looked at it and smiled, "This is Biluochun tea. It should be produced in Dongting Mountain, Taihu Lake. The Biluochun tea produced here has slender, curled leaves that resemble snails, covered in fine hairs, and is silvery-white with a hint of green. It is known as 'one tender (buds and leaves) and three fresh (color, aroma, and taste)'."

"Hehe. Director Fang really knows tea." Director Liu laughed: "Minghui Tea House doesn't produce its own tea like your Puxian Temple. Its tea leaves are all transported from Jiangnan."

“Every year in early March, Minghui Tea House sends special personnel to the tea-producing areas of Jiangnan to pick and process new teas such as West Lake Lion Peak Longjing and Dongting West Mountain Biluochun. To ensure the quality of the new tea, we also cooperate with the China National Tea Museum to carry out the picking, processing and supervision work. You can try some.”

Fang Qingye picked up the teacup and took a sip; indeed, the taste was fresh, mellow, and sweet.

As the four chatted, the conversation naturally turned to Brazilian soybeans.

"President Fang, your acquisition of Ferguson in Brazil with President Qiao has solved COFCO's urgent problem. This allows me, the Director of the Foreign Trade Department, to finally get a good night's sleep. You probably don't know, but every year around this time, I often suffer from insomnia, worrying about soybean imports. While President Ning and his team are in the US negotiating, I'm restless in Beijing." Director Liu sighed at the end.

"Haha. Come on, Lao Liu, let's toast you with tea instead of wine." President Ning said, raising his teacup.

“We should pay tribute to President Qiao and President Fang; they have overcome many difficulties.” At Director Liu’s suggestion, the four of them raised their teacups and took a sip.

Then Director Liu said, "Your acquisition of Philgeri was a breakthrough. Now, Shanghai Pengxin Group has also acquired a company called Belagricola in Mato Grosso, Brazil. The situation is very similar to Philgeri. The situation has been opened up."

"Your two companies cover a soybean planting area of ​​4 square kilometers, which provides more than 700 million tons of soybean resources annually. That's quite impressive," Director Liu concluded.

"But that's far from enough, Lao Liu. We expect to import 6300 million tons of soybeans this year. Even if we bring back 700 million tons, that's only one-tenth of the total," President Ning said with a smile.

"Yes, currently in major grain producing and trading hubs such as Brazil and Argentina, the four major grain traders, namely ADM, Bunge, Cargill, and Louis Dreyfus, have established large organizations to control grain sources."

"Although the two companies you acquired have a strong business foundation and a high degree of connection with farmers, they are still at a disadvantage when competing head-on with 'abcd'."

Everyone fell silent after Director Liu's words.

Because it's true.

Although Fang Qingye and his team dealt ADM a blow in Brazil, it was only a superficial injury. Not to mention, ADM's stock price rebounded in less than half a month!

“Director Liu, my company, Tuofang Technology, will increase its investment in soybean procurement and storage in Brazil. If conditions are right, we can acquire more companies like Filgrey,” Fang Qingye suddenly said.

Qiao Yongfeng was slightly surprised by Fang Qingye's statement, but Director Liu was very pleased.

"Hehe, President Fang is indeed decisive! Here, let me toast you again!" He then picked up his teacup.

"Old Liu, it's not just a matter of soybean supply, but also resource transportation. When exactly will the railway across Brazil and Peru start construction?" General Manager Ning suddenly asked.

"This is a national strategic decision. How could a mere Director of the Commerce Department like me know about it?" Director Liu said with a wry smile. "Go ask the Ministry of Railways now—oh no, it has now been transformed into the China Railway Corporation—or ask Leader Yang of the Ministry of Transport. They may not all know the answer."

"Sigh," President Ning scratched his head.

"Having resources but not being able to ship them out is also a problem. There's also sea freight; shipping soybeans from Brazil takes longer and costs much more than shipping them from the United States."

Currently, there are two routes for Brazilian soybeans to be shipped to China: one is via the Panama Canal, which takes 35 days, but the canal toll has reportedly risen to $20 per ship; the other is via the Cape of Good Hope, which extends the journey to 50 days and incurs an additional 25% fuel cost.

“Why don’t we just lease a port on the west coast of South America, adjacent to the Pacific Ocean, and bypass the Panama Canal directly?” Fang Qingye suddenly said.

(End of this chapter)