Chapter 634: A New Era Begins: "China-US Joint Announcement"
Chapter 634: A New Era Begins: "China-US Joint Announcement"
The supermarket industry is the future of retail, and it is unlikely that this industry will be suppressed by the government, unless it really reaches a very high level in a certain overseas region, but this is almost impossible. In the past, local retail brands in many countries in Europe, the United States, and Asia wanted to expand overseas after they became big, but almost without exception, they all failed;
Therefore, the core of Carrefour is Asia. Yang Wendong is not sure that he can be the number one even in Southeast Asia. It is enough to have a certain market share. The mainland of the future will be the core and foundation of Carrefour supermarkets.
As for other overseas markets, they are mainly based on investment, especially Wal-Mart. The investment of this company has given Yang Wendong a rich return, and Changxing Trading Company has also cooperated with it. With the cheap light industrial products from Hong Kong and the mainland in the future, it will definitely become a global trading company, easily surpassing the traditional British-owned foreign companies in Hong Kong;
In Europe, Yang Wendong also invested in many future giants in the early days. Unlike Walmart, Yang Wendong basically did not interfere with them. As time went by, these companies gradually rose one by one as they did in history. After all, Yang Wendong's butterfly effect in Asia could not affect Europe.
Of course, Carrefour also acquired a local supermarket in the UK as a bridgehead to enter Europe and the Commonwealth, but Yang Wendong’s goal was only to operate it smoothly and he did not expect this local supermarket to become one of the giants in Europe in the future.
Although Changxing Trading Company is not involved in the operations of these companies, it also cooperates with them, but the scale is not very large at present.
Zhou Haoran nodded and said, "Okay, I'll contact them."
"What about the beverage industry? Can you try to develop in Europe?" Yang Wendong asked again.
Due to the special nature of the beverage industry, even Coca-Cola, which has a very low profit margin, will have to produce near any of its markets in the era of globalization decades later.
Zhou Haoran said: "In terms of beverages, we have tried our ginger drink in the UK, but the sales were very poor. Fanta Cola is okay, but it is not well-known. Locals don't recognize this brand at all, unless we spend a lot of money to promote it in Europe, but this will be direct competition with Coca-Cola and Pepsi.
Red Bull may be able to do this in the future, but now the next target market for Red Bull is the United States, and Europe may have to wait a few years."
"That's right, our beverage industry is still too weak." Yang Wendong nodded.
The main reason why Watsons' beverage industry has grown to a large scale in Hong Kong is that it manufactures orders for PepsiCo in Asia. This demand naturally means a large factory for a city.
Watsons' own beverage industry actually consists of its early ginger drinks, Fanta Cola, a few tea drinks and Red Bull, among which Red Bull has not yet been promoted in the global market.
Zhou Haoran continued: "If Red Bull becomes popular in the United States, the next market will be Europe, and then we can build a factory in the UK."
"Well, that's good too. We can negotiate with the British government one by one and get the highest benefits." Yang Wendong replied.
Cooperation does not require a huge one-time investment. After all, the UK is not the future mainland, and overseas capital investment is very disciplined. If a large factory is really built, it will be controlled by the other party in the future.
We should take it step by step and observe appropriately. Another point is that it is impossible to invest in the UK forever. We need to transfer in the 90s, so we need to be prepared in this regard.
Wei Zetao said: "I don't have anything to consider. We can just send some products with high transportation costs to the UK for production. For goods like suitcases, even if they are transported in containers, the cost per piece is too high. In the future, the European and even some American markets will be close to the UK, and the tariffs will be low."
The transportation cost is not only very high for heavy items, but also very high for light and large items. For example, a truck can only transport steel plates at a very low height due to the density of steel. If it is not high enough, it will be overloaded. However, if it transports light foam, it will be even more of a loss because it does not weigh much even if it is fully loaded.
The first reason why Changxing Shipping was established in the early days was to solve the problem of the cost of transporting trolley cases. At that time, cargo ships were all in bulk, and it would be a loss to use all of them to transport trolley cases. Later, even when Changxing Shipping was established, it also implemented a mixed transportation mode, that is, high-density packing to save space, and the rest was packed in low-density plastic trolley cases, which was the most cost-effective. In today's container age, shipping companies also distribute transportation according to weight, but no matter what, all relatively light plastic boxes are still relatively unprofitable in terms of transportation. In addition, there are now many plastic trolley case manufacturers in the world, and Changxing Industry no longer has the advantages of the early days. The production capacity also needs to be placed near the market like beverages.
Yang Wendong agreed, "Okay, today we just called everyone here to discuss things. You can discuss the specific distribution and execution later, and then hand it over to me and the headquarters.
I will also arrange for people to negotiate with the UK. We also want certain preferential conditions for these high-quality investments.”
Although the entire Changxing Group is not considered a top high-tech enterprise, its industries, except for a few industries such as papermaking and glue, are all pollution-free. Such industries are of the highest quality in any country and can be placed in large cities or even on the edge of the capital, unless labor costs become too high in the future.
"Okay, Mr. Yang." Several people replied.
Time soon came to February, and a major event happened just as it had happened in history. US President NKS made his first visit to the mainland, ushering in a new chapter in Sino-US relations.
This incident naturally attracted the attention of the global media. The improvement in relations between the two superpowers can be said to determine the fate of countless billions of people. Even in this era, no one knows whether World War III will suddenly break out one day. Everyone is very worried about this issue. After all, war is too cruel.
This is especially true in Hong Kong. You know, Hong Kong is now the only bridge for the mainland to communicate with overseas. The good relations between the mainland and the United States are a strong shot in the arm for Hong Kong's economy. The Hang Seng Index has also skyrocketed. A large amount of international funds have poured into Hong Kong, and the overall economy is booming.
However, although this visit was not top secret, there were almost no reporters throughout the entire process. Even if there were, they were closely related to the White House. It was naturally impossible for Hong Kong to go to Yanjing for an interview, and they could only follow the reports from the United States and copy them immediately.
Even Oriental Daily, Hong Kong Chinese Daily and TVB are the same. In the face of such a major event, no capital can make a difference.
However, there is indeed an endless stream of interviews and speculations in the Hong Kong media in this regard, and every newspaper will not miss such a thing, because it is now the most important topic in Hong Kong. Even the popularity of Jin Yong's serialized novel "The Deer and the Cauldron" has been photoshopped down.
Hong Kong's government and financial personnel are also using this incident to narrate their analysis on the future of Asia, Hong Kong's economy, and politics. Every smart person is using this opportunity to gain economic or other benefits for themselves.
As the most powerful Chinese financial group in Hong Kong today, Yang Wendong was questioned by some media reporters when he arrived at the station several times, but he naturally didn't say anything and the security guard easily solved the problem.
In fact, it doesn't matter what he expresses on this matter, because after China and the United States established diplomatic relations, Japan, Britain and a large number of Western countries also immediately established diplomatic relations with China, so there is no risk; but while there is no risk, there is also no benefit, so he naturally doesn't want to get involved. Anyway, no matter what he does, it will not affect historical events.
And many times, what is done is the most important. He also hopes to help the domestic economy, so in many aspects, as long as cooperation is possible, he will try his best to cooperate with China Resources. When it comes to things that are beneficial to both sides, he will naturally favor the Chinese, whether they are from Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia or the mainland.
On February 2, China and the United States issued a "Joint Announcement between China and the United States" in the Shanghai Stock Exchange, announcing to the world the major changes in the relationship between the two countries. Influenced by this, the Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong rose again.
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(End of this chapter)