The Industrial Giant Reborn

Hong Kong's manufacturing industry is very developed, but the core of this development is actually light industrial production and assembly. The main focus is clothing, toys, watch OEMs, and electronic OEMs. With low labor and a better tax environment, the mix is ​​still It's booming.

But the problem is that both ends are caught. The raw materials of the products can only be imported, and the market is all abroad. The raw materials of clothing and toys come from the by-products of petroleum refining. The main markets for watches and electronic OEMs are also abroad. Now the price of petroleum has skyrocketed. The European and American economies experienced negative growth, one positive and one negative, and the orders of Hong Kong's manufacturing industry immediately experienced an unprecedented collapse.

Coupled with the skyrocketing price of crude oil, the freight prices of various types of sea and air freight have also skyrocketed, plus conflicts in the Middle East, and the main markets of Hong Kong's manufacturing industry are Europe and the United States. Hong Kong's manufacturing industry relies on low-cost labor to make meager profits. I can't afford the sea freight.

Two months later, after the chain reaction of the oil crisis spread to Hong Kong, the stock prices of manufacturing companies listed in Hong Kong also entered the list of plummeting. In addition, the supply of crude oil in Hong Kong also began to have problems, and oil prices remained high. Hong Kong not only faced Stock prices and land prices plummeted, and the prices of normal vegetables and daily necessities also began to rise sharply.

The manufacturing industry with the largest employment has problems, a large number of employees have been dismissed or forced to reduce their income, and the cost of living has increased sharply. The power of inflation has pushed Hong Kong society, which has been developing smoothly for decades, into an economic death spiral.

Even the busiest section of the middle ring road has clearly felt the decrease in the number of crowds and traffic.

In Prince Building, the headquarters of Xinghe Company, Chen Zhiwen stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows, looking at the Harbor City under construction opposite Victoria Harbour, lost in thought.

In the entire Hong Kong real estate industry, what he is most interested in is the Harbor City, which will be known as the No. 1 shopping paradise in Asia in the future. It is unique in Hong Kong in terms of area and geographical location. Not to mention the annual rent of tens of billions of Hong Kong dollars in decades, That is, after it was built in the 1980s, the annual rent could be as high as hundreds of millions of Hong Kong dollars, and the entire investment cost could be recovered in less than five years.

Of course, there are only construction costs here, because the most valuable land itself belongs to Wharf, and the land cost is counted as 0.

This kind of investment with such a high rate of return, if he is allowed to operate it, he will definitely use all his strength to raise funds from the bank, use other people's money to build it first and then operate it to repay the loan. However, Wharf and the Jardine behind it are not very confident in this project. , coupled with the conservative management method, they are unwilling to receive large-scale reception, and only rely on the rental income from other places in Wharf and the money raised in the stock market to build slowly. The entire construction period is about 10 years, and 5 years is actually enough. .

However, this also has certain advantages. Wharf has released a large number of shares for financing, and Chen Zhiwen will naturally not let it go. In addition to the deposits he paid to major chemical and oil giants, he still has 1 He also absorbed a lot of shares during the period of Wharf’s share increase, but the current total amount is not very large. After all, Jardine is still at its peak. Whether it is the real estate crisis or the oil crisis, it has not let It's truly gut-wrenching.

After the "dong dong dong" knock on the door, the assistant Angie's voice sounded outside the door again: "Mr. Chen, Mr. Smith from Dow is here."

"Please come in." Chen Zhiwen turned his head, saw this familiar face that he had been looking forward to for several months, and couldn't help but smiled happily: "Mr. Smith, long time no see."

"Yes, Mr. Chen, long time no see." After shaking hands with Chen Zhiwen, Smith said, "I also just came back from the United States. The first thing I did when I came to Hong Kong was to come to Mr. Chen's side."

"Is there any change in our cooperation?" Chen Zhiwen asked, and took Smith to the sofa in the reception area and sat down.

Angie also served two cups of coffee. Smith took a sip and said, "Don't worry, Mr. Chen, there will be absolutely no problems with our cooperation. According to our agreement, this batch of plastic particles will soon arrive in Los Angeles. Board the ship at the port and probably arrive in Hong Kong by the end of next month."

"The incident in the Middle East this time will have a great impact on your company, right?" Chen Zhiwen asked.

"Of course there is a big impact. Three factories in Europe and the United States have shut down, and other factories have also reduced production. Even the products for you this time are all in stock before October." Smith said calmly on the surface. , but there was a heartache in my heart.

Major companies will have a certain amount of inventory for common consumables. Plastic is a product that consumes a lot in the market. It is not as flammable and explosive as other chemicals, and the storage cost is low. Naturally, there are a lot of them in the warehouse.

Theoretically speaking, it will take several months for oil problems to affect the output of terminal petroleum products, but capitalists are not fools. When raw materials are skyrocketing, how can terminal products still be calculated at the previous cost.

Although companies like Dow have signed early agreements with a large number of customers, under normal circumstances, the general contract liquidated damages are not high, and in addition to the current international situation, there are sufficient reasons for breach of contract.

But customers are also divided into grades. It doesn’t matter if ordinary small customers pay compensation for breach of contract. These small customers can only admit it. After all, there are big problems all over the world.

And there are some that absolutely must be supplied normally, such as auto giants, home appliance giants, top companies in other industries, etc., the price will be raised by one liter at most. After all, for Dow, the previous inventory is at most It's nothing more than a small profit. If there is a stalemate with the car and electrical giants, it will ruin the long-term business.

When Smith went to the United States, he also went to the company's senior management. After expressing his interests many times, he got the normal execution of this transaction. After all, the northern mainland is the virgin land of dreams for all European and American companies, especially in Western countries. fell into recession.

Chen Zhiwen nodded and smiled. He naturally knew whose tiger skin he had borrowed, and said, "Mr. Smith, for some reasons I can't say, our cooperation may have to change. I would like to entrust Dow with this batch of plastic particles. Dispose of them in the international market, of course, you can also sell them to Dow at a discounted price, and you can resell them to others."

"This..." Smith frowned. Chen Zhiwen had already said the reason why he couldn't say it, so he would definitely not say it if he asked himself, but he guessed that it might be because the northern inland government saw the price of plastic raw materials in the international market soaring several times. Then sell it again, earn a profit, and become a second-hand dealer?

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