Chapter 361: Shatin Land Hoarding and Instant Noodle Market Opportunities

On October 10, Yang Wendong brought Su Yiyi to the beach in Shatin again.
What’s different from the last time I came here is that the originally simple chicken coop has been renovated again and is much better than before.

Before he even entered, Yang Wendong said, "It looks much better."

Lin Yuehua, the person in charge of the breeding farm, said: "Mr. Yang, in order to save time, we raised the chicks first, so we only pursued speed in infrastructure investment. Later, after the chicks were raised, we had enough time to slowly improve all the chicken houses."

"Yeah," Yang Wendong nodded and asked, "What are those nets on the chicken coop used for?"

Above all the chicken coops, there are a large number of light yellow grids, which are densely packed and seem to have two or three layers.

Lin Yuehua said: "This is to prevent some predators in the sky from attacking the chickens, but more importantly, it is to prevent the feces of various wild birds. Because wild birds have a wide range of activities, it is very likely that there are viruses or bacteria in their feces. If the feces enter the chicken farm, it may cause poultry plague, and the consequences are disastrous."

"Yes, we should pay attention to chicken plague." Yang Wendong nodded: "Especially bird flu and the like."

In this era, influenza poses a huge threat to humanity. The Spanish flu in 1919 killed more people than World War I, and serious influenza A outbreaks occurred in the 50s and 60s, with death tolls often starting in the millions.

The virus does not recognize politicians and wealthy people. Although Yang Wendong can do nothing about it, he can only do his job well. When it comes to poultry farming, he needs to pay attention to hygiene.

"Don't worry, Mr. Yang, we are afraid of this too." Lin Yuehua said awkwardly, "Once we find that there is something wrong with a chicken, we will kill it immediately and bury it."

"Well, OK." Yang Wendong said again: "Then let's go inside and take a look."

Just after they walked for a while, Su Yiyi next to them immediately stopped and covered her mouth and nose with her hands, as if she was about to vomit.

"What's wrong? Does this smell make you uncomfortable?" Yang Wendong asked.

Su Yiyi nodded and said, "Yes, I feel like vomiting when I smell it. I don't know why. This didn't happen the last time I came here."

"It may be because there are more chickens now, and they are bigger, so the smell is stronger." Lin Yuehua explained: "This breeding industry will have a strong smell, which cannot be avoided."

Yang Wendong naturally smelled the smell, and although it was a bit unpleasant, he could still bear it, so he said, "Then you go to the front and rest for a while. I'll walk around inside and come out."

"Yeah, okay." Su Yiyi nodded, and then someone helped her away.

Yang Wendong and Lin Yuehua continued to walk inside. It had been nearly 5 months since the last time they came here. Now there were a flock of chickens of considerable size here.

Lin Yuehua introduced: "Mr. Yang, this is the third batch of chickens from our farm. The first two batches were also sent to Carrefour. I calculated the cost here. After keeping a 10% profit, it is still 3 cents cheaper than the chickens sent to Hong Kong by China Resources."

"3 cents? That's not a lot," Yang Wendong thought for a moment and said, "I remember a chicken in the market costs about 8 yuan now."

The closer you are to an economically developed area, the lower the Engel coefficient. A person may be able to buy ten chickens with one day's salary, but otherwise he may not be able to buy even half a chicken. When Yang Wendong just traveled through time, a person's daily salary was only 1-2 Hong Kong dollars, but a chicken basically cost about 8 yuan, and even eggs cost an average of 2 cents each.

Although Hong Kong today is much stronger than it was a few years ago, it is still not developed and the Engel coefficient is still very high. In particular, Hong Kong itself does not have much agriculture, and food and even water need to be imported.

Lin Yuehua said with a smile: "Mr. Yang, the chickens in the market are indeed 8 to 10 yuan, but those are adult chickens. Carrefour needs half-adult chickens, which are easier to prepare and sell at a lower price.

And from our breeding perspective, chickens, ducks or other animals all grow fast in the early stages and slow down in the later stages, so the price of such chickens is normally much cheaper.”

"Then why are all the people in the vegetable market adults?" Yang Wendong asked curiously again.

"This is a matter of different demands. Many people still prefer to buy big roosters or old hens." Lin Yuehua explained: "Also, animals shipped from the mainland need to travel long distances, and adult chickens have a higher survival rate.

We raise chickens nearby, so small chickens are more convenient and easier to sell at Carrefour. Adult chickens are expensive and heavy, so they are not easy to sell. It is not cost-effective to make them into roast chickens. Small cooked chickens are easier to sell."

"Yeah," Yang Wendong nodded. In his previous life, roast chickens and the like were indeed smaller chickens, which should also be the market demand.
Lin Yuehua continued: "According to the market price, our half-grown chickens are about 5 yuan, and this is the price at the vegetable market. The terminal sales are definitely cheaper, so we can save 3 yuan, which is already very cheap for Carrefour.
The roasted chicken or poached chicken they make are sold out every morning because of their low prices. The demand will be high in the future.”

"So, the breeding capacity here is not enough?" Yang Wendong asked with a smile.

There are now 42 Carrefour stores. If each store sells 100 chickens a day, that would be 12 chickens a month. However, 100 roasted chickens or poached chickens, even though they are cheap, may not be enough to buy.

Anyone who has been to supermarkets like RT-Mart and Walmart in the past life knows how popular New Orleans roast chicken sells. But now that the per capita protein in Hong Kong is insufficient, the demand is even higher.

Lin Yuehua nodded and said, "Yes, the demand is too great. I suggested to Mr. Liu that he raise the price of roasted chicken, but he refused. He said that he must make the name for it and continue to do it even if it doesn't make money. Now they can only discuss it with China Resources, but China Resources only transports adult chickens from the mainland, so it may take some time to coordinate."

"Well, in that case, you should prepare to expand." Yang Wendong said, "The price of chickens from China Resources will definitely be much higher. From Carrefour's perspective, we can't operate like this for a long time. We still have to rely on ourselves."

"Okay." Lin Yuehua agreed and said, "I have also looked at many locations in Shatin. There are a few suitable ones. Once I have confirmed them, I will give you the information."

Yang Wendong asked, "Aren't you planning to build a new farm nearby?"

Lin Yuehua said: "Yes, if the farms are close together, there will be greater risks in terms of hygiene, and the smell will be stronger, which employees may not be able to tolerate, so it is better to separate them. However, considering the convenience of transportation, we still choose to be in Shatin District."

"Okay, then considering the hygiene factors, next time we buy land, we should buy a larger one. This way, even in an emergency, it will be convenient to increase the breeding density." Yang Wendong said after thinking for a while.

You definitely won't make much money from raising chickens. In the past, many super-rich people invested in agriculture just as a hobby. Even the four major grain traders, ABCD, did not really make farming as their main business.

But in this era, things are different in Hong Kong. Shatin has not been developed much yet, and a large area of land is abandoned;

However, if there is no reasonable reason for development, the Hong Kong government will not sell it to you; but as long as there is a reason and it is helpful to the economy, there will generally be no problem.

Although I cannot get commercial land, if I get it first, it will be my own. Although the future Sha Tin cannot be regarded as the economic center of Hong Kong, it can be regarded as the median level among the 18 districts of Hong Kong. What's more, if I develop it seriously, perhaps it is possible to achieve an upper-middle level.

Lin Yuehua also understood what the boss meant and agreed, "Okay."

After a while, Yang Wendong also came out of the chicken farm and saw Su Yiyi resting by the car. He walked up to her and asked, "What's going on?"

Su Yiyi smiled and said, "It's okay. There's no smell here, so I feel much better." "Yeah, the smell just now was really unbearable. I felt a little uncomfortable too." Yang Wendong smiled and said, "But there's nothing we can do about it. It's like this in all farms."

Su Yiyi asked: "Would it be better if they were raised freely?"

"We can actually call it free-range farming, but the breeding density is relatively high." Yang Wendong said with a smile: "Low-density free-range farming is not realistic. Hong Kong does not have so much land, and the land is too large to be taken care of manually."

In an era without poultry vaccines and sufficient antibiotics, cage farming was still rare. If you dared to do so, chicken plague would immediately teach you a lesson. The West is also trying to conduct research on this.

"Oh." Su Yiyi didn't ask any more questions.

Yang Wendong said: "There's nothing interesting here. Let's go and take a look at our instant noodle factory."

"Yeah, I'm curious about this too." Su Yiyi said with a smile, "I bought a pack of Japanese instant noodles last time, and they were really delicious."

"It's nice to eat it occasionally." Yang Wendong smiled.

Even for people who are not lacking in calories, it is still good to eat a pack of instant noodles occasionally. In his previous life, Yang Wendong also occasionally had a pack a month, which was very delicious.
The instant noodle factory is also on the seashore, but it is more than one kilometer away from the farm, mainly for hygiene reasons. Large farms are actually no less polluting than some factories.

Between the two is a self-built dock, which is sufficient for transportation by small cargo ships of several hundred tons.

Soon, the convoy arrived at the instant noodle factory, where Zhou Haoran was already waiting.

"Mr. Yang, Mrs. Yang." After several people got off the car, Zhou Haoran greeted them with a smile.

"Hello, Mr. Zhou." Su Yiyi also said politely.

Yang Wendong said: "Lao Zhou, the instant noodles inside have been produced."

Zhou Haoran said: "Yes, we have already produced paper barrels and bags. We can go in and take a look."

"Yeah, okay." Yang Wendong nodded.

Then everyone entered the workshop together. What caught their eyes were two small production lines working in full swing. Each line was about ten meters long. At the front was a flour rubber sheet, followed by different equipment on various assembly lines. At the end, round pieces of instant noodles came out.

Several people watched an assembly line for a while, and Zhou Haoran introduced: "Mr. Yang, the production of instant noodles can only be done by machines. It is impossible to operate manually, so there are only a large number of people at the front and back ends, and the machines will also ensure hygiene issues."

"Okay, we'll use the equipment if necessary." Yang Wendong didn't care and asked, "What's the cost difference between packing in bags and packing in cartons?"

Zhou Haoran replied: "The cost of instant noodles is actually about the same. As for the seasoning, the barrels are a little more expensive, so the cost is not much different at the factory.
But it’s different when it comes to transportation. The cost of barreling is much higher, and the farther away you are, the greater the cost difference.”

"Well, this will be our advantage in exporting in the future." Yang Wendong nodded and asked, "Did we make this seasoning packet ourselves?"

Zhou Haoran shook his head and said, "Not yet. These seasoning packets are all imported from Japan. I have also been researching suitable seasoning ingredients, but there is no result yet, so I will use the common chicken soup flavor on the market."

"Seasoning packets will be the core of future instant noodle competition." Yang Wendong took a look at the chicken-flavored instant noodles on the production line and said, "I remember there are a few companies in Hong Kong that specialize in seasoning sauces, right? We can poach people from them."

As a time traveler, Yang Wendong naturally knows that the core of instant noodles is the taste, not the "noodles"; but the problem is that he cannot decide what to make according to his taste.

Because the times and places are different, the most famous spicy instant noodles in the past do not meet the needs of the Hong Kong market, because Hong Kong people generally do not like spicy food. Even the Japanese do not like it very much.

Of course, some people in parts of Southeast Asia and Hong Kong like spicy food, but the first batch of products cannot take minority groups into consideration, so the common chicken flavor was chosen.

As for the flavors of sauerkraut, braised, seafood, etc., they will be gradually developed and launched in the future, because these things cannot be easily produced in a short period of time. Even if they are available, market research is still needed to confirm them before they can be launched.

"Okay." Zhou Haoran agreed and said, "I know a company called Taohua Datong. Their oyster sauce is very good. The best seasoning sold at Carrefour is theirs."

"Well, OK." Yang Wendong then asked, "Then are our instant noodles sold in Carrefour?"

Zhou Haoran said: "It is already on sale, but because of the lack of production capacity here, there is no large-scale promotion. It will be ready when the five production lines arrive. By the way, we are also preparing to export to Taiwan. I have already met the distributors there through Changxing Trade."

"Okay." Yang Wendong nodded and said, "When your production capacity is sufficient, I will arrange enough resources for promotion, including overseas."

The market for any of the basic necessities, whether it is food, clothing, housing or transportation, is almost infinite, especially in this era when the Asian economy is just starting out and instant noodles are an industry that has emerged as the times require. Naturally, I have to seize this opportunity.

The only pity is that this product is not popular in the largest markets such as Europe and the United States. Many Japanese instant noodle giants made many attempts in the 80s, but they failed to change the living habits of Europeans and Americans at a huge cost.

Therefore, for instant noodles, we only need to do well in Southeast Asia. Even if we want to enter the European and American markets, it is more practical to make potato chips and popcorn.
And when the mainland reforms and opens up, there will be a new market worth tens of billions or even hundreds of billions.

Zhou Haoran smiled and said, "Okay, I will do my best to increase production capacity."

Yang Wendong asked again: "Have you figured out how to make ham sausage?"

Instant noodles and ham are a perfect match. It’s not that these two things are delicious, but they are most suitable for ordinary people, which means they are very cost-effective.

In terms of taste, ham is generally not as good as sausage, but it has lower cost.

Zhou Haoran said: "The lab is still adjusting the flavor, and it's almost done, but the equipment that can mix starch and meat evenly and shape them into shapes is not available yet. Dongsheng is also working hard on research and development, so it will take some time before the ham sausage is launched on the market."

"Well, okay, take your time." Yang Wendong nodded.

New things always take time to study.
PS: Ask for monthly ticket

(End of this chapter)

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