1994: Vegetable farmers strike back

Chapter 426 On the right track
In the office, Chen Jiazhi was brewing a pot of black tea. He had heard that black tea was more suitable for the body when the weather got cooler.

Drinking a couple of cups of black tea can also refresh you as evening approaches and you get busy.

Liu Yunfan sat opposite Chen Jiazhi, looking impatient.

"Mr. Chen, companies like Yu Caiye have proactively extended their payment terms. If we don't extend ours, we'll have even less of an advantage."

"Our clients have raised this issue many times. If we don't agree, we might lose all our existing clients."

Chen Jiazhi placed a cup of tea in front of Liu Yunfan and asked, "Was it the mainland vegetable market that first proposed extending the payment period?"

"Yes."

Chen Jiazhi frowned. "Isn't the export business quite easy?"

Liu Yunfan said, "But now everyone wants a piece of this meat. For example, Congyu wants to get more. Southeast Asian merchants value payment terms, so some merchants are willing to accept higher unit prices."

The export price is already several times or even ten times the domestic price of vegetables, and after deducting costs, the profit is already substantial.

With the unit price increasing again, it's no wonder that mainland vegetable markets are using all sorts of methods to compete for orders.

but,

Xue Chenglin and Yu Hong's Southeast Asian clients have always been quick to make payments.

But things have changed now.

This suggests that he may have guessed correctly that Indonesia and Malaysia's foreign exchange reserves might become strained.

Liu Yunfan took a sip of tea and said, "President Chen, I think we can extend it by half a month."

Chen Jiazhi snapped out of his daze and shook his head. "It can only be extended by a week at most. If we can't keep them, then we can't keep them."

Liu Yunfan appeared very disappointed.

No matter how much we sell domestically, the profits are far less than those from exports; we only earn a meager living.

Many vegetable markets that rely solely on exports and supplies to the Hong Kong market are thriving.

After finishing his tea, Chen Jiazhi went to the sorting workshop, where the vegetables from their own market had arrived.

Due to delivery requirements, the weight of each box of vegetables has also changed.

The availability of 15-pound and 20-pound foam boxes better meets the needs of small and medium-sized restaurants, demonstrating the growing penetration of delivery services into lower-tier markets.

Meanwhile, distribution centers in Zhongshan, Zhuhai, Shenzhen and other cities are also using free strategies to provoke high-quality restaurants.

Although the quality of chicken heart mustard has not yet reached its best, it still has obvious advantages.

Meanwhile, the quality of other vegetables from Kaopu Fresh is also excellent.

In particular, Italian lettuce is showing a trend of standing out and has been favored by many restaurants.

Previously, Dali lettuce was only grown on a small scale in Jiangxin Market. Since Tongxingtai had been a long-term supplier of Dali lettuce, the distribution center did not promote it vigorously, and the stalls did not sell it.

Things are different now; the Zengcheng base has a sufficiently large area.

Yi Dinggan had planted lettuce at Jiangxin Vegetable Market several times and was aware of its potential, so he included it in the key planned varieties of Heli Vegetable Market.

Now we can harvest more than ten acres of lettuce every day, with a yield of 1.5 to 2 tons per acre, and a daily output of 20 to 30 tons.

A very considerable number.

However, thanks to recent promotions, Dali Lettuce has not only performed well in delivery but also in its sales at food stalls.

At this moment, Chen Jiazhi and Li Cai were walking to the stall and talking about Dali lettuce.

It tastes better, and its petal-like curled leaves are also very pleasing and look very elegant.

Many customers at the stalls like to break off a piece and eat it raw when inspecting the goods, and then ask about the price and place an order.

Promotion is easy.

After learning about the production of lettuce at the base, Li Cai sighed, "At this rate, the stalls will have to make sacrifices on lettuce to make way for distribution and supply to Hong Kong."

Chen Jiazhi offered him a cigarette and said with a smile, "The organization will remember your contribution."

Tongxingtai is a shareholder of Heli Agriculture, and Xia Youche has been selling Dali lettuce for a long time and has a price advantage.

Therefore, from the moment lettuce from Heli Market hits the market, half of it is supplied to Tongxingtai every day.

Originally, the amount of lettuce delivered was small, but the stall could still get nearly 10 tons of lettuce every day.

However, recently, the daily delivery volume of lettuce has increased rapidly, ranking first among all categories.

Even though Yi Dinggan adjusted the subsequent planting plan, it will take at least another month for the situation to improve.

Time is running out for the stall owners.

It wasn't dark yet, and there were already quite a few people in the market. When we got to the stalls, there were goods being unloaded and sold at the same time.

Li Cai tossed the two oranges he brought to Ding Qiao and Xue Jun respectively, and the two were responsible for selling them during the day.

Li Cai asked, "How's sales volume during the day?"

Ding Qiao said, "The business is steadily growing. Now many customers know that we have a wide variety of leafy vegetables and can provide a stable supply over a long period of time, so they are willing to come and buy our vegetables."

Looking across the entire Jiangnan market, there's probably no leafy vegetable stall more impressive than ours.

Ding Qiao peeled the orange, took a bite, and exclaimed, "This orange is so sweet! Where did it come from?"

Li Cai said, "The oranges are from Zengcheng. Mr. Yi wants to try selling them at his stall."

“…” Ding Qiao sighed, “Indeed, there is no such thing as a free lunch.”

The citrus market has been sluggish in the past two years, while many citrus orchards in Zengcheng are in their peak production period, resulting in unsold citrus.

Yi Dinggan has not forgotten that Heli Agriculture also shoulders the task of consolidating the achievements in poverty alleviation.

Although selling citrus fruits isn't profitable, it can make a good impression on superiors and strengthen relationships with local officials and residents, thus facilitating better work. This is all wisdom.

Li Cai joked, "Don't worry, besides tangerines, maybe next year we'll also sell lychees, chickens, ducks, and the like."

"..." Ding Qiao felt that the tangerines were no longer appealing. "I'm afraid that one day stall number 63 will also turn into a general store."

Chen Jiazhi tried to smooth things over, saying, "We can put it together with the samples to make a sample. Those who are interested will naturally inquire, and then we can recommend it to the company. It won't affect the normal operation of the stall."

At this time, the Jiangnan Market was still called the Jiangnan Shijing Agricultural and Sideline Products Wholesale Market.

Vegetable wholesale is their main business, but they also have other businesses, and you can even see various wild game being sold at some stalls.

There are very few vegetable stalls as specialized as stall number 63, and even fewer that can offer a wide variety of leafy greens and maintain a stable supply over a long period.

Because most of the large vegetable markets that have the capacity to do this have gone into supplying Hong Kong and exporting.

Most of the people doing business in the vegetable wholesale market are not involved in production; they are just vegetable handlers.

With the support of a 3000-mu base in Zengcheng, No. 63 stall is hard to beat in the current market.

Chen Jiazhi felt that simply displaying more samples wouldn't cause any major problems.

Ding Qiao and Xue Jun went back, leaving Li Cai and Chen Jiazhi to guard the stall. The foot traffic was slightly lower than during the National Day holiday.

But the strength is there; as long as you want to buy leafy vegetables, you can find the corresponding products at stall number 63, and the supply and quality are very stable.

If you want to buy many kinds, that's even better; you can buy them all at once, saving you more time.

This advantage is obvious, even creating a siphon effect. In the long run, the No. 63 slot will only become stronger.

At 8:30 a.m., Li Xiu placed a bowl of noodles on Chen Jiazhi's desk. There was a fried egg on top, and it looked very tempting with the help of chili peppers and lettuce.

"Jiazhi, eat your noodles first."

"I'll eat right away after I've calculated the bill."

Chen Jiazhi wanted to move the bowl of noodles to the side, but Li Xiu brought it back and handed it to him with chopsticks in her hand.

"Even if you're busy after eating, don't forget what your mother told you: you must eat well when you're away from home."

Chen Jiazhi had no choice but to put down the documents in his hand, take the chopsticks and stir the noodles, then asked, "Have you eaten?"

Li Xiu shook her head.

"Then you should go eat too." Seeing that Li Xiu still hadn't moved, Chen Jiazhi said, "I'll definitely eat the noodles before I get busy. When have I ever lied to you?"

Li Xiu then left. Although Jia Zhi sometimes liked to joke, he was a man of integrity, both internally and externally.

Chen Jiazhi was indeed hungry, and he ate heartily, taking big bites of noodles and slices of lettuce, finding it quite satisfying.

After finishing his meal, he continued processing the data from various regions that Chen Zhengxu had sent back.

Chen Zhengxu went to another city. The cooperative wholesale channels have been stabilized, but there are still distribution centers in various places that need to expand their business, and at the same time, their structure and facilities need to be improved.

With Chen Zhengxu around, Chen Jiazhi was spared a lot of trouble, but he also felt a bit of pressure.

Many people hope that this ship will get better and better, and he also wants to steer the ship in the right direction.

Before he knew it, Li Xiulai took away the bowl and then urged him to go back and rest early.

After arranging his work for the day, Chen Jiazhi felt tired.

Just as he was about to leave, Liu Yunfan came to see him again, wanting to communicate with a Thai client he had met at the Canton Fair.

Chen Jiazhi's English communication skills have improved, and he can now communicate in simple ways. With Liu Yunfan around, he quickly understood what the Thai man meant.

Extend the payment period further, or cancel the cooperation.

Chen Jiazhi refused to agree, and the two parted on bad terms, resulting in no further orders.

When he returned to the office in the evening, Huang Junming from Indonesia and Xue Chenglin from Malaysia also called one after the other.

They also proposed extending the payment period.

Chen Jiazhi still only agreed to extend the contract for one week, but the two did not cancel their cooperation.

Because he was quite familiar with Xue Chenglin, Chen Jiazhi asked him more questions and learned that the other party was investing in the stock market and was short of cash.

Xue Chenglin had helped him several times, and Chen Jiazhi couldn't help but advise, "Mr. Xue, the stock market is risky, and you should be cautious when investing, especially since the Southeast Asian stock market is a bit overvalued right now."

Xue Chenglin asked, "Mr. Chen also knows about stocks?"

Chen Jiazhi knows nothing about the city.

Xue Chenglin then chatted with him for a while about the Asian economic miracle and Japan's "flying geese" formation theory.

Chen Jiazhi was confused, but he understood that most people were still optimistic that Southeast Asia would continue its rapid economic development.

The same applies to Xue Chenglin.

Chen Jiazhi stopped trying to persuade him and instead became concerned about Japan, which he had mentioned. Could it be that Japan and South Korea would also be affected?
A moment later, he spoke with Fang Shaohua on the phone and learned that the export of vegetables from Fanrong Vegetable Market to Japan was still going smoothly.

However, it also mentioned that Zhejiang and Fujian are facing fierce competition in their shiitake mushroom exports to Japan.

Due to the surge in shiitake mushroom production, the export pattern of shiitake mushrooms to Japan has gradually changed.

For example, Fukuoka Taiko Co., Ltd., which has a partnership with Prosperity Market, is a traditional importer.

Meanwhile, another model has emerged this year: domestic shiitake mushroom companies first ship their mushrooms to Japan, where local distributors sell them on their behalf, without charging a single penny before the mushrooms are sold.

This led to prices being driven lower and lower, and Taihang Co., Ltd. dared not import shiitake mushrooms in the second half of the year, while imports of green vegetables continued to increase.

However, domestic mushroom companies also suffered heavy losses, unable to recover the money from their sales, leading to the bankruptcy and closure of many mushroom export companies, leaving mushroom farmers with nowhere to turn for help.

The inability to collect debts is something that every vegetable seller in later generations deeply resents.

(End of this chapter)