Greece to roman road

The three people in the office looked at the panicked Prime Minister and were surprised. King George stood up from behind the desk, stepped forward and asked: "Mr. Prime Minister, what happened?"

"Your Majesty, I just received news that French customs has increased the tax on imported raisins, and the price of raisins in the international market has plummeted," Tricoupis said to the three of them.

The three people who heard the news looked shocked.

Grapes are an important economic crop in Greece. In the past two years, Greece's annual export volume of raisins has reached about 80,000 tons, with a value of up to 80 million drachmas. It is one of the main sources of income for Greek farmers.

At present, among Greece's bulk export commodities, the most valuable is cotton cloth. In addition, raisins are the most valuable.

A serious drop in the price of such an important commodity will hit the Greek economy and affect the income of grape farmers.

King George asked seriously: "I remember that the raisins needed by the French wine industry have always been imported from Greece. Why did the French suddenly increase tariffs this year? What happened to the French wine industry?"

“Prior to this, the French grape growing industry was devastated by the impact of phylloxera.”

"Since this year, local grape plantations in France have begun to recover from the depression. The reason why the French government suddenly raised the import tariff on raisins is because of the influence of grape growers," Tricoupis sighed.

The French burned bridges across rivers.

In previous years, due to its own grape production being affected by phylloxera, France's grape production was seriously insufficient, triggering a grape crisis. The French wine industry would import a large amount of raisins from abroad. Under the guidance of the market, growing grapes in Greece became a thing. It was a profitable thing, and Greek farmers enthusiastically joined the ranks.

France's own grape planting industry suddenly recovered, but Greek farmers, without knowing it, were affected by market inertia. Instead of reducing planting, they increased planting.

"If raisin prices remain low this year, what's the worst that can happen, Mr. Prime Minister?" Constantine asked with concern.

"If raisin prices continue to decline, a large number of Greek farmers will go bankrupt and the government's revenue will also be affected."

The three of them remained silent.

The raisin crisis has had a huge impact on Greece.

In the original time and space, Greece was hit by the raisin crisis, like a domino, causing a series of negative consequences.

The export of raisins was blocked, the pillars of the economy collapsed, and the government's fiscal revenue was affected. The huge foreign debts originally owed could not be repaid on time, leading to financial bankruptcy. The turbulent social situation aroused people's dissatisfaction. In order to divert the contradiction, the nationalist elements in the Greek government went on a rampage. Advocating war, the Greek army was forced to challenge the Ottoman Turks in 1897.

The Greek government, which was already financially bankrupt, had no money to fight and could not mobilize more personnel to join the army. The Greek army, which was less than 50,000, was forced to attack the superior Ottoman Turkish army.

The result is obvious: the Greek army, which was seriously ill-prepared, suffered a disastrous defeat.

Various creditor countries took the opportunity to take over Greece's finances and adopted a series of measures to ensure the income of the Greek government to pay Ottoman compensation and repay foreign debts.

It can be said that the series of bad luck in Greece before World War I all started with raisins.

For such an inconspicuous commodity, Greece had such a big reaction, which shows the fragility of the Greek economy in history.

In fact, Greece has been a relatively poor country since its independence from the Ottomans in 1830.

As mentioned earlier, a certain number of Greeks immigrate every year and leave Greece to live in other countries.

Ironically, one of the options for Greeks to immigrate included their former suzerainty, Ottoman Turkey.

Yes, immigrating to the wealthier areas on the western coast of Anatolia is also an option for the Greeks.

The reason why Constantine is relatively stable at this moment is that in this time and space, Greece's economic development is much stronger than that in the same period in history.

Although the raisin crisis still happened, the impact on Greece was far less fatal than in the original time and space.

Thinking of this, Constantine asked, "What can we do about this, Mr. Prime Minister?"

"Although the French will definitely reduce the import of Greek raisins in order to protect their country's grape growing industry, the markets with larger raisin consumption include the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, and the demand has not shrunk."

"The main problem now is that France's sudden reaction caused an oversupply in the raisin market, causing the market price to collapse."

"The best way now is to increase the price of raisins on the international market," Trikupis said.

"We just release some good news, that's it?" King George asked.

"It would be best for us in Greece to increase the consumption of some wine. I hope that Your Majesty can allow Greek soldiers to drink wine in their daily diet," Trikoupis said.

Constantine was thinking about Trikupis' method, well, it was to expand domestic demand.

The Greek army numbered about 50,000 people. Even if they added wine to their diet and consumed more grapes, the impact on the raisin market would be limited.

"Your Highness, didn't you recruit tens of thousands of indigenous soldiers in the Congo? Also add wine to their diet," Trikupis requested.

Constantine was stunned when he heard this, and he didn't know whether to laugh or cry. The welfare of this indigenous soldier was a bit good.

"Prime Minister, even the indigenous army rations wine. I'm afraid the impact on the price of raisins will be limited," Constantine said.

"Prime Minister, let me help you think of a way." Looking at the anxious Prime Minister, Constantine said.

After that, he called the guards at the door and said, "Go and invite Nina, the person in charge of the pharmaceutical company."

After four years of development, the original artemisinin factory, with the assistance of Philip and other medical scientists, has become the largest pharmaceutical company in Greece. The products are not limited to artemisinin, such as medical Alcohol is also a product of the factory.

Everyone continued to discuss the impact of the raisin crisis, and after a while, Nina walked in dusty.

After greeting everyone, Constantine said: "Nina, I invite you here to solve the problem of unsalable grapes in Greece."

"I would like to ask you whether your company can find a way to consume some of Greece's excess grape production."

In the production process of artemisinin, a large amount of acetone is used as an extraction agent, and alcohol is used as a raw material for the production of acetone.

"Compared to fermenting grapes to produce alcohol, it would be more economical to use other crops, such as potatoes," Nina said.