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

Chapter 727 "Don't ask me about this. I only know a little about futures. Mr. Ning, you should go find Fang Qingye."

Upon hearing this news, Qiao Yongfeng paused for a moment, then blurted out a curse: "Damn it! These bastards! They tried to obstruct us at every turn when we were acquiring Philgrey, and after we were humiliated, they still haven't learned their lesson. Now they're going against us again!"

He was speaking in Chinese, which Katya couldn't understand, but judging from his roaring manner, she knew he was also furious.

So he quickly said, "Mr. Qiao, but O'Neill also said that Celado disagrees. He is preparing to negotiate with other cooperatives to try to complete the task."

At this moment, Yan Shi, who had been sitting quietly drinking hot coffee beside him, whispered a reminder: "Mr. Qiao, the Cerrado Agricultural Cooperative is the largest agricultural cooperative in Mato Grosso State and a bellwether. Its shift in allegiance means that ADM is demonstrating its absolute power to control core resources. I estimate that if Cerrado refuses, it will be difficult to negotiate with other cooperatives as well."

This time Yan used English, and Katia's expression didn't look good when she heard it.

Sure enough, he received a call from O'Neill early the next morning. He contacted several other cooperatives, but they all refused and subtly indicated that they were under a lot of pressure.

"It seems I have to report this situation to COFCO International." Qiao Yongfeng gave a wry smile and took out his phone to call Zhang Lijun, president of COFCO International Brazil Co., Ltd.

At that moment, Zhang Lijun was not in Brazil but in Beijing.

It's 7 p.m. in Yanjing right now.

The strategic conference room on the 16th floor of the COFCO Group building was brightly lit, but the atmosphere was heavy and tense.

A huge electronic map on the wall displays the real-time situation in Brazil's main soybean producing areas. Multiple dots representing ADM control nodes and logistics networks are rapidly expanding, while the dots representing the COFCO alliance are being squeezed out.

“The situation is more severe than expected,” Zhang Lijun, president of COFCO International Brazil Limited, reported in a deep voice. “ADM has gone all out this time. In the spot market, they have used their pre-locked shipping capacity and port berths to block our goods inland; in the futures market, they have joined forces with international speculative funds to continuously attack our hedging positions. Our cash flow and risk control are under tremendous pressure.”

"Another batch of our goods that was about to be loaded onto a ship was temporarily frozen by the local court for inexplicable reasons. After our legal department investigated, it was clear that ADM was behind it."

COFCO, as a major force in ensuring national food security, must not back down in this battle. However, even COFCO finds itself struggling in the face of ADM, a giant that has been operating in the global market for a century, and its ruthless financial tactics.

Looking at the map, COFCO Group General Manager Ning paused for a moment before asking:
"Lijun, how is our partner in Brazil, Qiao Yongfeng's Philger Company, doing?"

Just as Zhang Lijun was about to answer, his phone rang. He took it out, glanced at the caller ID, and chuckled, "Speak of the devil, and he appears! It's President Qiao calling." He then placed the phone on the conference table and put it on speakerphone.

"Mr. Zhang, I'm afraid our company, Philger, will not be able to fulfill the procurement contract."

"What's going on? Although the soybean production in Paraná state has been reduced due to the disaster, didn't you say you would send O'Neill to Mato Grosso state to purchase 10 tons of soybeans?" Zhang Lijun asked, puzzled.

"Damn it, ADM ruined it!" Qiao Yongfeng cursed on the other end of the phone, explaining the whole story in detail.

"Damn it! Those bastards from ADM, I curse them!" Another string of profanities echoed in the conference room, leaving all the COFCO executives stunned. Finally, Qiao Yongfeng calmed down a bit: "President Zhang, I'm sorry, I got a little angry just now. Please report this to President Wu and President Ning as soon as possible."

“I’m having a meeting at COFCO headquarters in Beijing right now. General Manager Wu and General Manager Ning are both there. They heard everything I said on speakerphone,” Zhang Lijun said with a smile.

"Oh? Mr. Zhang, why didn't you say so earlier? I'm so sorry, everyone must have seen this." Qiao Yongfeng apologized with a laugh on the other end of the phone.

At this moment, President Ning, who was sitting at the head of the table, waved to Zhang Lijun, indicating that he should give him his phone.

"Yongfeng, it's me, Lao Ning," said General Manager Ning. "You've had a tough time in Brazil. Things aren't easy for us at COFCO either. ADM is putting a lot of pressure on us in the spot and futures markets. You know the situation in Brazil, so what suggestions do you have for dealing with this situation?"

Qiao Yongfeng paused for a moment on the other end of the phone before saying, "I've been thinking about this issue these past few days. In the spot market, we need to change our strategy. We'll stop directly competing with ADM in major production areas and key logistics routes. Leveraging the reputation and credit we've built in Brazil over the past two years, our local network will quickly sign 'forward purchase + technical support' agreements with numerous small and medium-sized farmers in central and northern Brazil, opening up a second source of supply. I call this 'surrounding the cities from the countryside.'"

"There is also the legal and media battle. COFCO has a strong legal and public relations team to counter-suit ADM’s malicious lawsuits and logistical interference, and expose its monopolistic behavior in local media to win the sympathy and support of the Brazilian industry and government. We, Ferguson, will do the same."

"Your two points are excellent! We're having a meeting now, and everyone's been discussing your views; we're basically in agreement. What about the futures market?"

"Don't ask me about this. I only know a little about futures, but I'm just showing off my limited knowledge in front of big players like ADM. Mr. Ning, you should go find Fang Qingye; that's his forte," Qiao Yongfeng said with a smile.

"Hehe. I knew you were going to recommend him." President Ning laughed: "Qiao Feng, do you know what Fang Qingye has been busy with lately?"

"In January of this year, a cloud ledger forum summit in the financial sector was held in Shanghai. It was initiated by his company, Zhiyun Technology, and invited representatives from financial institutions in more than 20 countries and regions. It was a large-scale event, and he was busy with that."

"I recently heard that they are acquiring a welfare factory for the disabled in their county. That factory is losing money and they can't pay the workers' wages."

"I heard Governor Zhou of the People's Bank of China talk about the financial summit. It greatly increased our country's voice in the international financial arena, which is very impressive. Why did he go and acquire the welfare factory? It has social significance, but for Fang Qingye, isn't it a bit of a waste of his talents?" President Ning said.

"Hehe." Qiao Yongfeng laughed on the other end of the phone: "Fang Qingye's way of doing things is sometimes really hard to figure out."

“That’s in line with his style, doing whatever he wants, as long as he doesn’t do anything bad,” Ning said. “I’ll contact Fang Qingye, and Lijun will be returning to Brazil soon. The two of you should work closely together to break ADM’s blockade against us in the spot market.”

"Yeah, let's take a good look at this. Damn it, these bastards!" Qiao Yongfeng cursed again.

Fang Qingye received President Ning's call at 10 a.m. the next day.

(End of this chapter)