industrial overlord

Chapter 686 Manhole Covers and the Butterfly Effect

"This is already the eighth accident in this city where a passer-by was injured due to the loss of a manhole cover. Fortunately, none of the victims were life-threatening."

Police officer Robertson of the Frankfurt City Police Department looked at Khedira lying on the hospital bed covered in gauze, and said to the doctor Martin beside him in a flat tone.

"This is something that has never happened in the history of Frankfurt." Martin muttered, "Frankfurt has always been a very orderly city. It is unexpected that someone can steal manhole covers in such a city."

Robertson said: "According to the reports we have received, in the past three months, more than 300 manhole covers have been lost in the city. In some places, the manhole covers on the entire street were stolen by thieves overnight."

"My God!" Martin lost his voice. "Isn't this a prank by some young people, but an organized crime?"

"That's right." Robertson said, "In Frankfurt, there are at least three criminal gangs that specialize in stealing manhole covers. However, due to our limited strength, and small cases like manhole cover throwing, we can't mobilize our forces to carry out investigations." Therefore, I predict that in the future, the incident of throwing manhole covers will continue to happen, we can only ask the municipal authorities to strengthen inspections, and in addition, install anti-theft locks on manhole covers on some road sections.”

Martin sighed: "It's totally incredible, I really don't know why this happened."

"It's all because of China..." Khedira, who was lying on the hospital bed, interrupted suddenly. He soaked in the sewer for more than an hour before being rescued by passers-by and sent to the hospital.The effect of soaking in this way for a while has also appeared, he is no longer in a panic like when he just left the exhibition hall, and his mind is much clearer than before.

"China?" Robertson and Martin glanced at each other. They didn't think it was Khedira's words when they were clear-headed. They were more willing to believe that this person was out of his mind and full of nonsense.

Khedira glanced at the two with disdain, closed his eyes, and said to himself: "Yes, it is China. In the past 20 years, the Chinese economy has maintained a growth rate of more than 10%, especially in the past In three years, their average annual growth rate reached a terrifying 3%, which directly led to the loss of manhole covers on the streets of Frankfurt."

"Excuse me, Mr. Khedira, can you speak more clearly?" Martin asked cautiously, wondering if it was time to call the nurse to give Khedira a sedative.This guy must have been fooled, Martin judged in his heart.

Khedira opened his eyes and said, "Am I not clear enough? China's economy is growing rapidly. A country with a population of 13 billion, what does such a fast growth rate mean? Yes, it means that a lot of resources are consumed. At present, the steel consumption of a country in China is equivalent to the sum of the United States, Europe and Japan, or even higher than this sum. Then, the price of iron ore began to rise sharply, and the price of scrap iron in the international market also began to rise Then, the streets of Frankfurt started dropping manhole covers.”

"You mean, these manhole covers lost on our street were stolen and sold as scrap iron?" Robertson is worthy of being a police officer, and his association ability is still very strong.

In the past, the price of scrap iron was low, and stealing a manhole cover could not make much money, so no one would steal it.Now that the price of scrap iron has risen, according to this Khedira, the price increase is not small, so it is no wonder that thieves are eyeing the manhole cover.Robertson recalled the news he heard at a police meeting in the European Union a few days ago. It is not just the city of Frankfurt that lost manhole covers. Many cities in Britain, France, Spain and other countries have also encountered such strange things.

Khedira sneered and said, "That's right. If you are fast enough, go to the Rhine River and check the bulk ships that are sent to China. You will be able to find those damn manhole covers. They will be shipped to China and re-smelted." Turn it into steel, and then make it into various commodities and sell it back to Europe. Aha, I believe that the manhole cover that made me fall into the sewer will be made into a beautiful crutch, and I will have to lean on it in the future Walking on crutches."

"This is the most bizarre connection I've ever heard," Martin said dumbfounded. "Is this..."

"Butterfly effect!" Khedira said, "The butterfly's wings in China have already started to flap, and a storm is about to hit Europe."

……

"The China Iron and Steel Association just sent the news that in the international iron ore negotiations, BHP Billiton and Vale insisted on a price, demanding a 58% increase on the basis of last year's price. The negotiation has reached a deadlock."

This is in Sanlihe, Beijing, in the office of the National Development and Reform Commission, Huang Gang said the above words to the visiting Lin Zhenhua.

This is already a month after the Frankfurt Industrial Equipment Exhibition. Behind the scenes of the exhibition, Huang Gang threatened China's coking coal export quota to Europe, forcing the European Trade Commission to cancel the agreement with Hanhua and other Chinese companies at the last minute. The decision to conduct an anti-dumping investigation on electromechanical products has made ALK's last blow against Chinese companies come to naught.

Lin Zhenhua learned about this situation after the fact, and this time he came to the Development and Reform Commission precisely to express his gratitude to Huang Gang in person.Although Lin Zhenhua has long been prepared to accept the EU's anti-dumping investigation, it is of course a better result for Hanhua to kill this procedure before it starts.The whole country system is really not something to talk about casually. With the support of the country, enterprises can be more unscrupulous outside.

"As far as I know, when China Iron and Steel Association negotiated with international iron ore giants last year, they already proposed a price increase of 36%. The current iron ore price has already been raised, right?" Lin Zhenhua asked road.

"Exactly." Huang Gang said, "The price of iron ore rose by 36% last year, which has already brought heavy cost burdens to domestic iron and steel enterprises. Under the repeated requests of the Development and Reform Commission, iron and steel enterprises did not take these cost burdens Pass it on to the downstream industry. Otherwise, the impact of the iron ore price increase alone can raise the national CPI by 0.5 percentage points. If it increases by 58% this year, it is impossible for steel companies to absorb these price increases anyway. factor."

"The increase was 36% last year, and this year it will increase by 58%. These grandchildren are too bullying, right?" Lin Zhenhua said with a smile. Although he was swearing, his face did not seem to be filled with righteous indignation.Lin Zhenhua had predicted the price increase of iron ore a long time ago. Now that the prediction has come true, he is naturally much calmer than Huang Gang.

"When the price was raised last year, we thought it had reached the peak. Now it seems that the other party is pushing an inch. We have asked the China Iron and Steel Association to firmly bite our bottom line. This year's price increase cannot exceed 15%, otherwise... ..." Huang Gang didn't say any more.

Lin Zhenhua spoke out the rest of the words for him: "Otherwise...we can just hold our noses and accept it, right?"

"Zhenhua, can you stop gloating like this?" Huang Gang said angrily, "You know that we really have no countermeasures. Now that the domestic economy is developing so fast, roads, houses, airports and docks are being built everywhere. Steel is used for everything, and our country is seriously short of iron ore, so what if we don’t import it from abroad?”

Lin Zhenhua said: "How can I gloat, Director Huang, I have already reminded you, okay? It's because you bureaucrats don't care about yourselves, you don't take the words of us grassroots to heart, and now you still blame us?"

Huang Gang nodded and said: "Yes, you did remind me a long time ago, but who would have thought that the price of iron ore could rise to such an outrageous level? The two companies, BHP Billiton and Vale, have almost monopolized the entire international market. In the iron ore market, it is completely impossible for us to bypass them. They also saw that we urgently need iron ore, so the lions opened their mouths and said no second price, leaving no room for negotiation. This is really too much It's annoying."

"Resources are controlled by other people, that's the result." Lin Zhenhua said, "Huang Gang, I think it's impossible to force the two companies to lower their prices through negotiation. We have to come up with other ways."

Huang Gang said: "In fact, we have been thinking of other ways, including negotiating with the governments of Brazil and Australia, and exchanging other trade terms, but nothing has worked. These two companies are the pillars of the countries where they are located. Sexual enterprises have an extraordinary influence on government policy, and it is difficult for the government to intervene in their decision-making. Therefore, all kinds of solutions to this problem from the side have basically failed.”

"So, we are ready to accept a 58% price increase?" Lin Zhenhua asked.

Huang Gang said: "Who said that? We still have the last trump card to use."

"The trump card?" Lin Zhenhua was quite interested, "Tell me, what is the method?"

Huang Gang laughed loudly: "Our trump card is you, Chairman Lin Da. I was telling the director just now that I wanted to make a special trip to Xunyang, but you came here directly. You come here That's it, things will be fine."

"Let's not bring such exaggerated things, okay?" Lin Zhenhua pretended to say, "It's too high for us to count on me to solve the things that your Development and Reform Commission can't solve, right?"

Huang Gang said: "Forget it, Zhenhua, don't be so secretive, aren't you just waiting for me to praise you for your long-term vision? A few years ago, you were already planning to acquire the Mutong Iron Mine in Bolivia. At that time, I I really don't understand your intentions, now it seems that Jiang is still old and hot, and your vision, Chairman Lin, is indeed much longer-term than mine."

"Hehe, it's just a coincidence that a blind cat ran into a dead mouse." Lin Zhenhua laughed.

In fact, since Huang Gang told him about the iron ore issue, he knew that Huang Gang had been thinking about the Mutong Iron Mine acquired by Hanhua.This large iron ore mine with a reserve of 450 billion tons will be the key to China's iron ore situation.Lin Zhenhua raised huge sums of money to invest in the Mutong Iron Mine a few years ago, just to cope with today's situation.

(End of this chapter)