Chapter 537 The beginning of the steel industry

Chapter 537 The beginning of the steel industry

Chapter 537 The beginning of the steel industry

Hu Yingxiang was naturally a smart man. He understood what Yang Wendong meant and said with a smile, "Thank you, Mr. Yang."

After a brief exchange of greetings, Hu Yingxiang left. Zheng Zhijie asked tentatively, "Mr. Yang, do you think so highly of Hu Yingxiang?"

"His previous performance was pretty good. Besides, I can't fight the British financial group alone. I have to train a group of smaller Chinese financial groups." Yang Wendong smiled and said, "But many of the existing Chinese financial giants are valuable, and the second generation has already taken over. I don't think highly of them, so I can only choose from this generation of entrepreneurs."

The four future families in Hong Kong all started their business in the real estate industry in the 60s. However, in the 60s and before, there were many large Chinese business families in Hong Kong. However, after the first generation left, the second generation did not have the ability to expand their territory.

Several major families successfully took advantage of the three real estate crises in 64, 73 and 83, expanding their business tenfold and ultimately succeeding.

These families are naturally his investment targets. He has already invested in two of the future five real estate tigers. Zheng Yutong's family is larger and has the Zhou family behind it, so he is not considering it for the time being. As for the Hang Lung Group, it almost went bankrupt in the 80s, and some of its descendants have different ideas from his own, so he is not considering it for the time being.

As for the several companies that have already invested, including Li Ka-shing, Li Ka-shing, Hu Ying-xiang and Guo Desheng, the other four did not care about them after investing, but Yang Wendong was prepared to provide appropriate support to Hu Ying-xiang, because among the five real estate tigers, he was the only one who would invest all his fortune in the mainland in the future, which was in line with Yang Wendong's philosophy, although he would not invest entirely in the mainland.

After listening to this, Zheng Zhijie also knew what he should do: "I understand, Mr. Yang."

"That's how it is with real estate. We just need to develop in the normal way." Yang Wendong went on to say, "When one day we feel that the real estate market bubble is too big, we will stop and slow down."

The time traveler only knows the future fluctuations, but is not good at specific operations, so he only needs to seize the right time to buy low and sell high. There is no need for him to participate in this normal rising period.

"Okay." Zheng Zhijie agreed.

Yang Wendong asked again: "Do those big British companies have any large plots of land for sale recently?"

"There are no large-scale ones, but there are some small-scale ones." Zheng Zhijie said: "They are probably testing the market. Although they have established a real estate company, it is only operating on a small scale, but there are still many losses."

"What a talent." Yang Wendong shook his head and said, "Then keep watching them, especially Swire Land. If there is high-quality land for sale, we will also take it."

The British companies are useless because they can’t make any money at this stage of rising land prices. It’s ridiculous, but that’s the reality. They can’t even sell the building well.

For example, in the early 80s, Wheelock Holdings intended to sell two buildings in Central, so it formed a joint venture with Li Ka-shing. The joint venture then acquired the two buildings for HK$11 billion. Li Ka-shing then looked for customers and finally sold them for HK$22 billion six months later.

In less than half a year, Li Jiacheng made a net profit of 5 million Hong Kong dollars without investing anything; this kind of business cooperation case is simply incomprehensible to future generations, but this is the fact. Swire, HK Electric and Hong Kong Holdings have all done similar things, and the Chinese companies that cooperated with them made a lot of money. Eventually, these profits were converted into funds to acquire the British consortium.

Time soon came to June;
On the 3rd, Yang Wendong arrived in Kwai Chung. In front of the port, a large wharf had already taken shape. The huge area, coupled with various infrastructure facilities, were being gradually installed. Several cargo ships could also be seen in front of the wharf.

Yang Wendong asked: "When will the terminal be able to open for business?"

Zheng Zhijie replied: "It is estimated to be in October, but it will not be at full capacity in the initial stage. It will take half a year to gradually increase the capacity so that all employees can adapt."

"Have the people from Huangpu Wharf arrived?" Yang Wendong asked again.

Zheng Zhijie replied: "They have already come, but they have no experience in container terminals. I transferred some people back from Singapore, which has already started operations. But just like us in the future, they are also gradually learning by trial and error."

Yang Wendong nodded and said, "Okay, this kind of situation involving a major security incident really can't be rushed."

The ships on the docks are like the planes of airlines, and there are always certain risks. However, the planes are faster, which makes people feel dangerous at a glance, while the ships are slow and most people feel safe.
But in fact, this is wrong. Ships are large in size, tonnage, and inertia. They may even attract each other due to fluid mechanics. If they are not well controlled, there may be safety hazards between ships. In human history, many docks have experienced ship collisions, and even warships have been hit many times.
Fortunately, the speed is slow and the crew can observe in advance, so even if there is a collision, it will only be an economic loss. Unlike airplanes, although they are the safest means of transportation, once an accident occurs, it will be all over.

"Yes, everything is difficult at the beginning. As long as we can cultivate more talents in Hong Kong through this terminal, things will be much easier in the future." Zheng Zhijie followed.

Yang Wendong smiled, then looked at Wei Zetao and said, "How is the production of containers going? The opening of our terminal also depends on containers."

Wei Zetao replied: "Don't worry, Mr. Yang, the factory is already producing at full capacity, with people and equipment running 24 hours a day. Currently, 170 containers can be produced a day, which can meet the needs of Hong Kong.
And because containers are currently very popular around the world, many European and American companies have come to us to buy them, so I plan to build a second phase of the factory."

"What is the production capacity of the second phase?" Yang Wendong asked. Wei Zetao said: "The planned annual production capacity is 2, which is twice the first phase. After completion, the annual production capacity will be as high as 15. According to the price of containers, the total output value will be as high as 3000 million US dollars."

"That's about 1.5 million Hong Kong dollars, and it will become a core industry of Changxing Industrial." Yang Wendong said with a smile.

With the help of global market demand and the development of some large industries, the development speed is really fast. Although the number of containers is far less than that of some small commodities, the value is much higher. A 20-foot container is worth about US$2000.

"Yes, the market for containers is indeed too big, and the demand is far from meeting the supply." Wei Zetao added, "It's just that there are problems with the supply of steel plates in Japan recently, so we are forced to purchase them from some Japanese trading companies at a high price."

"Japan is blocking my steel plates?" Yang Wendong asked with a frown.

He never believed in the nonsense that capital has no borders. In his previous life, several major mobile phone giants in the mainland after 10 years, such as Xiaomi, Huawei, OV, etc., were all cheated by Samsung. HTC in Taiwan was once an Android star, but it was almost bankrupted by Samsung.

Fortunately, the domestic industrial chain is strong. After the Samsung incident, major mobile phone companies began to support and cultivate the domestic industrial chain, giving screen companies such as BOE, Huaxing, and Visionox the opportunity to grow.

Wei Zetao said: "Yes, I can't say whether it was intentional or not. Their reason is that Nippon Steel has just been established and its internal production capacity needs to be adjusted, so there will be some problems with production in the short term;
In order to avoid another shortage, I have contacted steel mills in the United States and Europe. I have no choice but to import from them, but the cost is very high and we will have no profit. "

"Nippon Steel has been established?" Yang Wendong thought for a moment and then said, "I remember Taiwan is also planning to build a large steel plant, right?"

In the 70s, Taiwan started ten construction plans, including power stations, transportation, shipbuilding, heavy industry, chemicals, steel, etc., among which steel was the foundation of all large-scale project plans.

Wei Zetao replied: "Taiwan is planning to build a large steel plant in Kaohsiung, but it will not be completed until 1971. The main purpose of this steel plant is to produce steel for construction, infrastructure, and shipbuilding. It is not clear whether it has the steel plates we need."

"This is indeed a hidden danger. The sea transportation cost of large steel plates is indeed very high." Yang Wendong also said with a frown.

The steel plates of containers are definitely larger than containers, so when container terminals become popular in the future, it will not have much to do with the transportation of such steel plates, and only traditional transport ships can be used; even in the future, container ships will be used, and the transportation cost of such old ships will be higher;
Wei Zetao said tentatively: "Mr. Yang, there is actually another way, that is, we can make the steel plates ourselves in Hong Kong."

“Build our own steel plant? Hong Kong doesn’t have the conditions for this, right?” Yang Wendong asked.

There were indeed steel mills in Hong Kong's history, but they were made by dismantling scrap steel and then melting it, which is completely different from modern steel mills.

Wei Zetao replied: "Mr. Yang, it is not a steel mill, but a factory that specializes in making steel plates. We do not participate in steelmaking, but buy steel ingots, melt them, and then press them into plates.

This way, the consumption of equipment, environment, water resources and electricity is much lower than refining iron ore into steel.”

"Buy steel directly and make it into steel plates?" Yang Wendong thought for a moment and said, "That sounds feasible."

If you just melt the steel and then send it to special equipment for forming steel plates, although it is also a steel plant, it is much simpler than traditional steelmaking. The most important thing is that the technical requirements are much lower, there is less pollution and other advantages.

Wei Zetao continued, "Yes, the steel plate is too large and cannot be damaged during transportation. It is very troublesome to get on and off the ship. Whether it is transported by sea or by land, the cost is very high.

But if it is replaced with steel ingots, no matter how it is handled, the machine can be directly transported, and it doesn’t matter if it is dented or even rusted in the rain. It can be shipped to Hong Kong, then made into steel plates and directly sent to the container factory next door for further processing. The transportation cost that can be saved here will be amazing;
Moreover, there are so many sources for things like steel ingots, so we won’t be restricted by suppliers.”

"Are there any technical difficulties?" Yang Wendong asked again.

Wei Zetao said: "Yes, the steel plates of the containers also need to be heat treated, which requires a special furnace. We can buy this kind of furnace, but the various technical parameters require very professional people. I guess we can only recruit people from Japan."

"Okay, consult me ​​about the investment and returns of the entire project. If it's suitable, I can invest." Yang Wendong nodded and said.

He is not actually very interested in the steel industry as it is too traditional and he does not have any advantages. However, if it affects other industries, he will still invest.

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(End of this chapter)