Chapter 358 Unexpected Corn

How much is the soybean production this year?

With the bumper harvests in various places, the data on yields and total outputs were widely circulated in major media.

The forecast of the Grain and Oil Information Center was perfectly implemented. The soybean planting area of ​​2.05 million mu produced 4400 million tons of soybeans. This was not an unfounded guess, but actual real data.

And the benefits are not bad. After deducting the rent, the net profit from farming is more than 100 yuan.

In the past, if farmers could get such income, they would wake up with a smile in their sleep.

So the story of getting rich has been used again, and this time it is still the story of large-scale grain farmers.

Earning hundreds of thousands, or even millions of yuan a year, deeply attracts people in both rural and urban areas.

The coastal saline-alkali land is still being reclaimed, and in another one or two years, another 10 to 20 million acres of arable land will be added.

Domestic food pressure is lower than ever before.

The basic output of wheat and rice is also increasing steadily.

We have achieved 85% self-sufficiency in soybeans, and self-sufficiency is always a pleasure.

If they had a choice, even pigs, cattle and sheep would not want to eat genetically modified soybean meal. This would at least make people praise the meat by saying: the meat tastes good.

Feed pigs also have to be divided into high and low grades.

The joy of the harvest is conveyed from the bottom up, and various data and information are also monitored by enterprises and institutions at all times.

Soon, someone noticed something was wrong.

The financial crisis broke out, the international food crisis improved slightly, food prices plummeted, but food-deficient countries are still short of food.

Major grain-producing countries such as India, Thailand and Pakistan still restrict grain exports.

Domestically, in addition to low soybean prices, corn spot prices are also at an absolute low, with the purchase price hovering between 0.53 and 0.55 yuan.

"It stands to reason that it shouldn't be!"

Lan Shun, manager of the information department of the Grain and Oil Information Network, was very puzzled.

"This year, more than 7000 million mu of arable land has been converted from corn to soybeans, leaving only 3.5 million mu of corn planting area, the lowest in the past five years."

"Last year, the national average yield per mu was about 1186 kilograms. This year, the estimated output is 2.07 million tons, which is about 0.45 million tons less than last year."

"Domestic processing plants are ramping up production, so demand should have increased significantly. Why are prices still so low?"

In the small conference room, a department staff member said: "Could it be the impact of the financial crisis? The demand has decreased."

"No, something's wrong!"

Lan Shun kept shaking his head. "Because of the U.S.'s production cuts, the global supply and demand relationship is still tightening."

"This price is very advantageous for both domestic sales and export!"

"It's not an advantage, it's just too abnormal!"

The manager's look also made the people in the Information Department of the Grain and Oil Information Network frown and start to think.

Needless to say, in North America, the GMO crisis has also increased the cost of corn production.

However, the FOB price of South American corn is about 1130 yuan/ton. Even if the shipping costs drop, the landed price of imported corn after tax will be more than 1600 yuan/ton.

Domestically, the price of corn shipped from the north to the south does not exceed 1200 yuan per ton.

The advantage of 400 yuan is almost overwhelming.

Even if it is exported, China has a geographical advantage as it is close to the island countries and South Korea, two major corn importing countries.

The two countries have an annual demand of more than 2600 million tons.

Adding to this the markets in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and even parts of Africa, the purchase price in domestic production areas should not be so low.

Just then, a man in an executive jacket angrily pushed open the door of the conference room. He was the company's general manager, Wu Bo.

"Lan Shun, what do you do in the Information Department?"

"This year's market information was completely inaccurate, causing customers to suffer huge losses. Now they are all clamoring for a refund."

The Grain and Oil Information Network is a website run by a private enterprise, which aims to provide professional grain and oil information services as well as grain e-commerce trade to grain customers.

It involves production areas, sales areas, and most importantly, commodity futures markets.

It implements a membership system, and members need to pay the website every year to get more information services.

Commissions are also charged for transactions concluded on the website.

In the past few years, the Grain and Oil Information Network has been growing stronger and stronger, but in the past two years, it has not been easy.

Wu Bo threw a list of customers on the table and said, "Your information department should explain to the customers yourselves."

As silent as a cicada.

No one in the Information Department made any move, and Lan Shun was very unhappy, but Wu Bo was not only the general manager, but also one of the shareholders.

People have to bow their heads under the eaves.

But I don’t even know where the problem lies!
"Mr. Wu, if we hand these customers over to the Information Department now, we will definitely not be able to keep them."

Lan Shun met Wu Bo's murderous eyes and said, "Give us some more time to find out the cause so that we can prescribe the right remedy."

buzzing.

Wu Bo took out his cell phone from his pocket. It was a call from a big client in the south.

After Wu Bo answered the call, his expression became even uglier.

After hanging up, his pupils dilated and he looked fiercely at everyone in the conference room.

"F*ck, what are you investigating? Just go to Huinong.com and copy homework. Damn, you can't even copy homework clearly."

"boom!"

The sound of doors closing echoed throughout the office building.

But what is more important is the message that came out of his mouth: a website that the most unwilling to hear has appeared again.

Lan Shun opened the familiar website in a daze, repeating the actions of the past two years.

In the grain and oil section of Huinong.com.

Two bright red articles were pinned to the top.

《2.5 million tons! National corn production is the same as last year》--The corn planting area decreased by 7000 million mu, but thanks to the upgrading of corn varieties across the country, the overall corn yield per unit area increased significantly to 1400 jin/mu.

"Corn production backlog - Jiahe, Guoliang and other companies actively communicated with the Ministry of Agriculture, and corn export quotas were loosened again"

Increase production!

Another increase in production!

This happy news has caused huge trouble to the Grain and Oil Information Network several times!
accident!

Another surprise!

All the fucking customers ran away.

Is it so easy to increase production now?

The production increased significantly last year!

Lan Shun finally clicked on the article with increased production.

In order to avoid being eliminated by the market and cope with a more brutal market, many seed companies have increased their investment in research and development.

Whether it is imitation, self-research, improvement, cooperation, or any other means, major seed companies are using all their own unique methods.

The Tianyu series still dominates the market.

However, in order to prevent the risk of a single variety, large-scale growers, cooperatives and enterprises need to make their variety layout more reasonable.

Some new varieties with unique characteristics have been launched into the market one after another.

In order to survive, in addition to the main producing areas, some small and micro corn producing areas that were not valued by seed companies in the past have also received higher market attention.

In the past, a remote county market received little attention from large enterprises.

Nowadays, the planting area has decreased and there is a huge mountain pressing down on it, so no matter how small a piece of meat is, it is still meat.

Even in remote towns, I have to do this seed promotion work.

Improved varieties such as Lihe 16, Demeya 1, Denghai 10, etc. have accelerated the squeezing of the living space of some small businesses.

The pattern of big fish eating small fish and small fish eating shrimp in the seed industry ecology has developed rapidly in the past two years.

Corn seeds are the crop with the highest commercialization rate, and farmers can only follow the seed companies when purchasing seeds.

The end result was that corn varieties across the country were updated in a short period of time.

Lan Shun stared at the data in a daze.

The production increased by more than 200 kilograms.

This is going to eat people!

The Grain and Oil Information Network survives by relying on professional information, statistics, analysis, forecasting, standards, business and other services, and ranks first among grain and oil industry websites.

However, the rapidly changing market in the past two years has often caused distortions in its data and analysis.

Its members suffered huge losses as a result.

Customers started to leave in large numbers.

Where can it flow to?
Lan Shun knows the answer, Huinong.com.

Only their data have little deviation and they can respond more quickly to emergencies.

……

The business volume and influence of Huinong.com are increasing day by day, which is something to be happy about even for the serious-looking Guo Yang.

Among the websites in the agricultural field, Huinong.com is already in the top tier.

Grain and oil information is a sub-sector.

Industry information, price and production reports, port data, international trends, import and export data, agricultural meteorology, industry standards, policies and regulations, industry exhibitions, corporate trends, corporate databases... and other business forms.

It not only serves domestic customers, but is also an important support for Jiahe to carry out global grain trade.

Just like corn today.

2.5 billion tons!

When this latest production estimate came out, Jiahe Grain and Oil was almost stunned.

Where does such a high yield come from?
After urgent investigation and analysis, we found clues from the seed market analysis report of Tianhe Seed Industry.

The domestic corn market has changed so rapidly in the past two years that it has been hard to keep up, leaving practitioners in a state of chaos.

Seed companies are busy fighting each other, growers are confused, and processing companies don’t know how to avoid risks.

The state departments were even more confused.

Policies are hard to formulate. One moment we are still thinking about how to restrict food exports, and the next moment we have to encourage exports.

So magical!

So exciting!
It’s too scary!
This sudden accident also made Guo Yang break out in a cold sweat.

In the large conference room of the group headquarters, most of Jiahe’s senior executives involved in the corn industry chain have arrived.

Bi Qiang, who is in charge of seed research and development, Qu Yang and Yan Qun of Tianhe, Xiong Jing, vice president of Jiahe Grain and Oil, who is in charge of corn processing, the purchasing department, and the sales department;

Chen Yanqiu from the International Food Trade, Mu Zhenggui, the director of the Nutrition and Health Research Institute, Xu Zhihong, the technical leader, and the Biochemical Department directly under the headquarters...

According to convention, each department usually speaks first and the boss summarizes at the end.

However, today's meeting seemed a little different. Everyone watched the boss open the PPT page on his own.

Qu Yang, who was sitting at the bottom, calmly put aside the prepared materials. He probably didn't need to speak today.

Guo Yang stood straight in front of the screen and said loudly: "Today there is only one theme: corn."

"The increase in corn production this time was very sudden. Fortunately, the reaction and response were not slow, but it also sounded a wake-up call for us."

Guo Yang's slowly pacing figure suddenly paused, his dark black suit was like the cold night wind.

"We were slacking off and even looked down on our opponents a bit."

Qu Yang lowered his head slightly and kept writing on the notebook with the pen in his hand.

"Seeds are the foundation of the group. Competition in the market is a good thing, but being so careless as to not understand the characteristics of the competitor's products is a work error."

After saying a few words to Tianhe, Guo Yang did not let the others go.

From corn planting, procurement, processing to product sales, Guo Yang pointed out the problems one by one.

The heads of various departments gradually turned into ostriches, and only Guo Yang's voice echoed in the conference room.

"Corn is the only grain in the country where production is greater than demand, so there is huge room for development."

"Jiahe is developing very fast, but Yufeng, Xiwang, Guoliang and other companies are not slow either, and they have the first-mover advantage." "Except for seeds, Jiahe has no advantage in technology and market accumulation."

"Starch, amino acids, corn oil, glucose...we don't even have a good brand!"

"This is hard-earned money. Oh no, we are not even making hard-earned money."

"Corn bioenergy processing has no capacity and no benefits. Now that crude oil prices have plummeted, it will be even more difficult in the future."

The meeting gradually turned into a struggle session.

Today he has the final say and no one else has a say.

The originally relaxed atmosphere suddenly became a little depressing.

Someone wanted to say something.

Actually, Jiahe is doing quite well in corn?

It’s just that the time is too short, the foundation is too little, the development method is too rough, and we have to distract ourselves from soybeans, wheat, and rice... We can always find a lot of reasons.

But the company's investment is also real money. It can be said that with an investment of tens of billions or even hundreds of billions, there is no other company like it in China.

Just say it. Can't you let the boss say a few words if there's nothing wrong?
Besides, there are indeed problems.

Guo Yang was indeed very angry.

The business is too fragmented and he can't take care of everything.

We can only ensure that the general direction is correct and rely on our advantage in seeds to ensure that this big ship continues to sail.

Nowadays, the domestic corn and soybean industry situation has changed completely, and the information advantage of the industry prophets has completely disappeared.

After venting his emotions for a while, Guo Yang asked each department to report on their work and then made some work arrangements.

It mainly revolves around the trade and processing of corn.

The corn market in East Asia and Southeast Asia alone cannot absorb the domestic corn production.

Domestic bioenergy production was not stopped last year, but according to Xiong Jing, the annual production capacity of domestic bioethanol is 170 million tons and biodiesel is 350 million tons.

In total, the amount of corn that can be consumed is less than 20 million tons.

In fact, these production capacities also include agricultural products such as sugarcane, expired rice and wheat, cassava, etc.

The actual amount of corn consumed was just over 10 million tons.

Including corn for feed and food, domestic consumption is at most 1.7 million tons.

Therefore, there is still at least 80 million tons of surplus, and there is great potential both in trade and processing.

"Corn -- starch -- amino acids."

"Corn--Starch--Alcohol."

"Corn - starch - organic acid - lactic acid - polylactic acid - production of new biodegradable materials..."

"Use technology to squeeze every grain of corn to its full potential, and grow an industrial tree from a grain of corn."

Some old clichés were mentioned again and again.

But there is also something new.

In view of the group's heavy investment in energy, Bi Qiang, which is at the upstream of the industrial chain, proposed a new breeding research direction.

Corn varieties specifically for ethanol.

It is mainly through genetic engineering that the genes of enzyme preparations related to ethanol production are transferred into the genes of corn seeds.

Bi Qiang said solemnly: "Currently, only Syngenta has achieved such results in the industry. ADM has more than 100,000 acres of dedicated corn plantations in North America."

"The ethanol conversion efficiency can be increased by up to 10%, which will make the profit space even greater."

"This is genetically modified seeds," Qu Yang said. "It is very difficult to obtain permission in China."

Guo Yang believes that being innovative is a good thing. “This breeding direction is very good.”

"Genetically modified insect-resistant cotton is allowed in China, and there will also be room for the development of special ethanol varieties. If that doesn't work, we can go abroad."

The pen in his hand shook slightly, and Qu Yang drew a few strokes on the notebook.

Following Tianhe Scientific Research Institute, everyone mentioned some other directions.

"The blank market left by the Americans is currently being opened up in Egypt and Europe."

“We are even considering exporting corn to Mexico and Canada.”

"Cellulosic ethanol exists in almost all herbaceous plants and has great potential for development."

The meeting lasted until the evening.

Guo Yang did not arrange a dinner in advance, but asked everyone to eat in the cafeteria as some people had to catch an evening flight.

A group of people filed out and went to the cafeteria. Guo Yang stopped Qu Yang halfway.

"Come to my office."

After returning to the office, Guo Yang extended his right hand to Qu Yang, who was still confused.

"Let me see the notebook."

Qu Yang was stunned for a moment, but his hand holding the notebook unconsciously withdrew.

"Oh, there are still some that you can't read." Guo Yang snatched it away, "I saw that you were very serious during the meeting."

“Just jot it down.”

Seeing the boss start to flip through the notes, Qu Yang couldn't help feeling a little guilty. The rustling sound of flipping pages was like a death warrant.

After a while, Guo Yang turned to the latest page, which showed a lifelike ear of corn on the cob.

"It's a good painting." Guo Yang teased, "Fortunately it's not a beast with a human face."

After taking the notebook handed back by the boss, Qu Yang stood there awkwardly.

There were meetings with multiple business units together, and he did not slack off during the entire process regarding the part involving Tianhe.

But for other business sections, the content is too vast, too complicated, and too unfamiliar, so just listening and getting a general idea is enough.

"Go and eat."

Guo Yang originally had higher hopes for Qu Yang, but now it seems that his willingness to learn is not very strong.

A little bit is lost.

If someone could rush up to him and shout, "Boss, I really want to improve!"

Maybe you can get a good job.

There are not many people eating in the cafeteria at this moment, most of them are working overtime.

There is no shortage of hardworking and motivated people in this era.

For dinner, the cafeteria’s chef, Lao Liu, specially made a hotpot for Guo Yang.

The shredded chicken is paired with freshly harvested potatoes and dotted with a few slices of green pepper. I broke out in a slight sweat after eating it.

One word, absolutely!

In the evening, Guo Yang continued to look at the business reports for this period.

Tianhe’s performance is still very impressive.

The domestic crop structure has undergone tremendous changes in the past two years.

Sometimes it's corn, sometimes it's soybeans. Not only are farmers and processing companies confused, but seed companies' production and inventory work are also difficult to grasp.

But these are temporary pains.

The domestic corn processing and consumption demand potential has not yet been fully released.

2.5 billion tons?

If we put it in a dozen years, this output will be nothing but dregs, and it won’t even be able to meet the annual consumption.

But things are different now.

These 2.5 million tons will not be a problem for the country, but for Jiahe, it may mean the loss of a development opportunity.

An opportunity for simultaneous expansion of production capacity and consumer demand.

That's why he is unhappy.

However, after seeing Tianhe's performance report, he felt a little better.

The estimated full-year performance of corn seeds is only about 90 billion, almost half of last year.

However, soybean seeds grew significantly, surging from 16 billion yuan last year to 108 billion yuan, which not only made up for the decline in corn seeds performance, but also increased slightly.

In addition, vegetables, cotton, wheat, potatoes and other varieties also saw significant increases.

Compared with last year, the growth rate of performance is slightly lower.

But this is the impact brought about by changes in planting structure.

The corn planting area is only 3.5 million mu. Who would have believed this a few years ago?
Do you want to starve all the pigs in the country to death?

……

Early in the morning, Guo Yang went for a jog along the road in the sea buckthorn forest.

The fields of sea buckthorn berries give off an enticing aroma, but it is not yet time to pick them.

Sea buckthorn berries can be picked in spring and autumn. Generally speaking, the nutritional value will be higher if picked in spring because they have gone through a cold winter.

However, Jiahe will start picking this fall.

After running, I went back to take a shower and started another day of work.

As soon as I arrived at the company, a bunch of secretaries surrounded me. It would be more reasonable to call them a secretarial group, but it would be better if they were a think tank.

I basically spend the whole day in the company.

But I am in a good mood today because the group's cash flow is more abundant.

In addition to business income, more still comes from the financial market.

With the collapse of crude oil, commodity markets such as food have ushered in a new round of collapse.

Although the counterparty's positions were decreasing rapidly in the later period, Jiahe's funds were also dispersed in multiple sectors such as crude oil, corn, soybeans, soybean meal, and wheat.

A total of 40 billion US dollars were prepared, but less than half of it was invested in the market. However, even so, the profit was still considerable.

Close to 20 billion US dollars!

This is equivalent to a 100% return on the invested funds.

This makes Jiahe's ammunition depot more sufficient, and the existing projects simply cannot consume so much funds.

Part of the excess money flowed into the stock market, and after this financial crisis, A-shares hit bottom earlier than the rest of the world.

At this time, Weiguang had already completed most of the positions.

The other part of the money was used for investment in technology and the Internet. Some potential projects became the targets of Jiahe Investment.

In short, money needs to flow.

Guo Yang also believes that these investments will allow Jiahe to avoid financial difficulties in its future development.

Just as Guo Yang was busy dealing with his work, a fierce conflict broke out on a mountain in Panxi, Sichuan Province.

51-year-old farmer Zhang Dashan has a rough face and his hands are covered with cracks.

Near noon, Zhang Dashan, who got the news, dropped his bowl, picked up his hoe, called out to seven or eight villagers, and hid under a big tree behind a bend.

When they saw the target vehicle coming, a group of people rushed forward and stopped an off-road vehicle.

"Fuck you, give me money!"

"Get out of the car, get out of the car."

"Fuck you, you demolished the house but didn't pay for the relocation, you delayed paying the rent, and you even want to refuse to pay the wages for planting the trees. Don't even think about running away today."

The villagers looked fierce, thinking that this group of people would never come back.

However, today, when Zhang Dashan’s wife was going up the mountain, she unexpectedly saw a familiar vehicle, and immediately returned to the village to call for help, saying, “There’s a traffic jam!”

Perhaps frightened, the people in the car didn't dare to get out and instead wanted to rush forward.

Zhang Dashan's wife was a beat slow to react and was knocked to the ground, with blood coming out of her forehead.

In a rage, Zhang Dashan smashed the car window with a hoe. The SUV wanted to escape, but as soon as it turned a corner, it found that the villagers had set up roadblocks!
There is nowhere to go.

The desperate villagers surrounded the place with hoes and stones.
The final result was one death, one disability and one injury.

This is the biggest setback encountered since the development of the jatropha industry, but it is by no means an isolated case, but a microcosm of the whole country.

(End of this chapter)