Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 883 South Patagonia ([-])

"As you all know, the Nantie Flour Mill invested and built by our company has been officially put into operation recently." Mo Ming stood up and walked around in the well-lit restaurant, only listening to his low voice Said: "The land attached to the Southern Railway is small and barren, and the agricultural conditions are not very good, so the food output is quite limited. Before importing Peruvian food, we have to import more than 15 tons of flour from the port of Rocha every year. Only in this way can the daily needs of local residents and migrant workers be guaranteed. For this alone, more than [-] yuan of funds will be outflowed from the South Railway affiliated area every year, which can be saved.”

"Nantie started everything from scratch, so there were some omissions before, which is understandable." Mo Ming continued: "But now that the construction of railways, highways, and docks are on the right track, it is time to start economic construction. Otherwise, I am afraid that everyone here will forget that our Southern Railway is not just a railway company, but a large-scale colonial trading enterprise with railway dependencies and administrative rights. Therefore, we should use limited local resources to maximize the benefits for the company. The interests of the South Railway are the goal that we will always pursue. And this first step is to establish our own industry, um, let’s start with the flour processing industry.”

In fact, to put it bluntly, the current population of 28.4 on the east coast (the latest figure as of the end of July 1651, excluding stateless laborers and personnel from the Southern Railway subsidiary), the amount of flour consumed each year is absolutely astronomical.According to the statistics of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, if the daily consumption of slaves and migrant workers is included, the total gross profit of this industry should be around 7-120 million yuan. Divided up.

Of course, with the increasingly fierce competition, the profit margin of the flour industry is also gradually declining, but this is a slow long-term process. Compared with the growing market share, this is nothing, and it can still attract The attention of many investors, of course, also includes the Southern Railway Company. After all, the business of daily necessities is always the most concerned by investors.

Although the Southern Railway Company is expected to still suffer substantial losses in 1651—the loss is mainly due to resettlement expenses and new investment projects—there are endless investors who are optimistic about the company's prospects.Among them, the most famous investor is the rich and powerful East Bank Company. This company, which already has a prototype of a consortium, has increased its capital and shares twice in a row. It has now increased its shares to 7.5%, becoming the second largest investor in the East Coast government. second largest shareholder.

The actions of Dong’an Company have undoubtedly brought sufficient confidence to many small and medium investors in China. Therefore, the bonds and equity of Nantie Company are very easy to sell in Qingdao’s financial trading market, especially those with five-year, seven-year, Ten-year commercial bonds are basically sold out in a short period of time every time they are issued, and the yield has repeatedly hit new lows.

Such a hot financing environment has naturally brought sufficient cash to the Southern Railway Company, so the company is currently launching multiple projects at the same time, one of which is a fishery project in southern Chile—such as whaling in Port Montes, Fishing and salmon farming; the second is the whaling and marine animal leather business in the southern part of Tierra del Fuego, which also includes deep-processed meat pickling and oil refining; the third is deep processing of various primary products imported from Peru, among which Mainly agricultural products.

"The flour processing industry is the project with the most development potential in the short term among agricultural products, and it is also a very mature industry in China. We set foot in this industry after careful consideration and thorough research beforehand." Mo Ming habitually I lit a pipe for myself, put it between the index finger and middle finger of my right hand, and said while walking: "Based on our long-term observation, the price of wheat in Peru is generally 10%-20% lower than that in the local area. Including the factors of import tariffs and shipping costs, some workshops or individuals in the Southern Railway affiliated areas still have a strong urge to import Peruvian wheat, which is already a good indication of the problem. Now, once our company cancels the import tariffs on Peruvian agricultural products, we will continue to Coupled with the low-cost operation of large industrial production lines with machines, even if they are exported back to the mainland, they are still quite competitive.”

When Mo Ming said this, he was not discussing anything with anyone, but simply explaining to the people below.Because of this, the Nantie Flour Mill was put into operation at that time, and the production line of the plant was copied from the wheat milling line of Dafeng Food Company, which is the most productive in China, so the production cost was extremely low.After all, in the industry of wheat flour milling, the larger the production scale, the lower the comprehensive cost in all aspects.

The production line of the Nantie Flour Factory in the port of Araucan has an annual wheat processing capacity of [-] tons, and the output of flour is about [-] tons. This alone has almost satisfied half of the Nantie affiliated area. above consumption.Now the factory is installing a second identical steam milling line, and plans to expand the annual production capacity to [-] tons, which can basically meet local consumption plus some surplus.The remaining production capacity can naturally be sold abroad. From the current point of view, the local market may not be very suitable (faced with complex and fierce competition and possible policy risks), but Peru is definitely a very good choice.

In particular, the milling machines that people on the east coast have been improving over the years have been able to remove most of the bran, endosperm, and germ scales from the wheat. The flour produced is white and fine, and is deeply loved by the local Peninsular People, Creoles (indigenous whites), Mestizos (Indian mixed-race whites), Muratos (black-and-white mixed-race) and Indian chiefs and other groups with consumption power love, the price is not low, and the profit margin extremely high.

The Spaniards were limited by technical factors, and the flour produced by their wind or water mills was thick and black, which could only be used to make black bread.Among the group of decent people, there is obviously not much market for black bread. They still like soft white bread, not to mention the high-quality refined bread needed for religious ceremonies and noble banquets. It was imported from the old continent, but now you can ask people on the east coast to buy it.

The people on the east coast are really amazing. The flour they grind is frighteningly white, and it feels very delicate to the touch. It looks like a high-end product.Moreover, this kind of high-grade flour called "South Iron Flour" is more "vigorous" than the so-called refined flour of the Old World, that is, the noodles made of this flour are more viscous and can absorb more water. This often means more bread can be made from the same amount of flour.Moreover, this flour has a more prominent feature, that is, it is not easy to spoil and malt, and the storage time is longer than that of Old World flour (there is less wheat oil and amylase in it).

It looks good, is more useful, and is easy to store. There are so many advantages here. If the same price can no longer compete with the so-called "refined flour" in Peru or even the Old World, then there is a problem.The smuggling trade between people on the east coast and Peru is getting hotter and hotter, so naturally there is no problem. Therefore, they import Peruvian grains to make flour and then wait for an opportunity to sell them back to Peru—and at the same time try to sell to the local people on the east coast to participate in the competition— Naturally, it is an excellent business.Of course, the people on the east coast also understand the rules, and they will make a fortune with those grain planters and Spanish merchants and compradors. After all, the profits in this big market of several million people are frighteningly large.

In addition to these two flour milling lines, Nantie Flour Mill is also cooperating with the state-owned Dafeng Food Company to jointly develop a wind milling milling production line (the technical patent is owned by the two companies).In many places attached to the South Railway, there is a westerly wind blowing all year round, and the wind speed is relatively fast, which contains rich resources.Wouldn't it be a pity if it wasn't put to good use?

In the suburbs of the two bustling cities of Araucan Port and Xingnan Port, there have been a few masonry-built wind mills and wind-powered sawmills. These wind-powered machines built with private investment or crowd-funded production are quite efficient. Yes, there is no additional cost (at least [-] to [-] cents a ton of coal money is saved), and it is very popular among people.The production line that Nantie Flour Mill plans to launch now is also based on the idea of ​​utilizing wind resources.It's just that this project requires a lot of investment in fixed facilities, and the initial research and development costs are not low. It is still unknown when it will be launched, but since the higher-ups have made up their minds to do this, it probably won't take long.

"Flour is like this. In the future, when the population of the South Railway subsidiary area increases, we will import other things from the Spaniards for further processing, such as cocoa, coffee, tobacco leaves, cane sugar, etc. They are all businesses that can be involved. " Mo Ming looked at the expectant faces of the crowd, and said with a smile: "Peru will be our treasure house in the future, and it will be the source of nutrition to nourish our Southern Railway. If the Southern Railway wants to develop, Peru is the lifeline. Deep, sober awareness.”

Immediately after the lunch meeting, Mo Ming took his officials to visit the Xianan Iron Flour Mill non-stop, and then ran to the pier to inspect a number of manual workshops for making salted fish—thanks to the King of Spain, today’s Peru It is strange enough that people sit on the top of the world's three major fishing grounds but still import seafood to the east coast.

After inspecting these salted fish processing workshops, Mo Ming plans to take a boat to inspect the Montessori Harbor, Blue Whale Harbor, and Qingfeng Harbor in the Jones Islands to learn about the actual situation there.Finally, he also plans to visit the Beech Fort located in the Strait of Magellan, and the Fort de Piquerque (meaning the fortress hidden behind the rolling mountains) which is being built on the site of the later city of Ushuaia, Argentina - a future sea beast New settlements with hunting, oil refining, and leather-making as the main pillar industries—in short, all these foundations that are related to the future of the Southern Railway must be transferred.

(End of this chapter)