Sail across the sea

Chapter 342: I feel uncomfortable if I don’t plot for a day

Ogel and Lassiter left Shan Jinwen's office with mixed feelings, and said many words of thanks to Shan Jinwen before leaving.

After seeing Ogel off, Shan Jinwen immediately called the office director of the bureau and asked him to register and take away the gifts sent by the foreign guests. Then he closed the door and called Zhao Zhaoxin.

"Hey, Lao Zhao, those two Germans just left my place. I said everything you taught me. When the organization comes to investigate in the future, you have to testify for me." Shan Jinwen said half jokingly and half seriously.

"What testimony can I give you?" Zhao Zhaoxin said disdainfully on the other end of the phone, "You must have accepted valuable gifts from foreign guests and sold important information to them. I won't testify for you."

Shan Jinwen sighed, "What kind of expensive gift is this? It's just a pack of imported cigarettes and a lighter. In the past, I would have accepted such a small gift without making a big deal about it. But this time, I handed it over right away because I was afraid I wouldn't be able to explain it clearly later."

"So, you told the Germans what Canghua meant?"

"Not a single word was left out. As you instructed, I didn't say that this was proposed by Canghua. In fact, I still don't believe it until now. How could Canghua Company dismantle its own agenda?"

"I don't know either. Gao Fan is full of tricks. This time, I don't know how he plans to trick the Germans."

"It's better not to know, so as to avoid accidentally letting it slip. By the way, Lao Zhao, I helped you so much this time. If we have any problems in the future, you have to lend a hand."

"This matter has nothing to do with me. It's obvious that you are doing a favor in front of the foreign guests. You have to treat me to a meal."

Without mentioning how the two of them exchanged verbal attacks, as soon as Ogier and Lassiter returned to the hotel, they called the Lowe's headquarters in West Germany to report the news they had heard from Shan Jinwen and the suggestions put forward by Shan Jinwen.

After listening to Ogel's report, Robison told them to stay in China and wait for further instructions, and then arranged for his men to verify the information passed back by Ogel.

The technical staff of the Vitamin Division retrieved several process patents applied for by Canghua Science and Technology. Markman personally led the team to conduct calculations and concluded that under the most perfect scenario, if Chinese companies used the two-step fermentation method and other process optimizations, the production cost of vitamin C could be reduced to about US$5 per kilogram.

Dai Lin's men brought back some rumors from the American market that some American feed producers were discussing providing a loan to China's Canghua Chemical Company to support Canghua Chemical Company in increasing its vitamin C production capacity to tens of thousands of tons per year.

Another piece of news came from within the group, that is, the Chinese government intends to introduce the production technology of several original research drugs from Lloyd's Group and produce these drugs in China. Currently, the negotiations between the two sides are at a stalemate. The main disagreement is that Lloyd's offer is too high and there are some restrictions that are difficult for the Chinese side to accept.

"It seems that the only way to get the Chinese to stop expanding their exports of vitamin C is to cooperate on pharmaceuticals."

After reading all the information, Robison made a decision.

By the way, this suggestion was made by Shan Jinwen to Ogel, who then reported it to Robison. According to Ogel, as a health bureau official, Shan Jinwen was more concerned about whether China could manufacture several expensive imported drugs on its own, and had no interest in exporting to Maolin Province, which was more than a thousand kilometers away, so he gave Law such an idea.

"This time, you, Canghua Science and Technology, have made a great sacrifice."

In the office of the Ministry of Chemical Industry, Deputy Minister Zheng Linong said to Gao Fan who came to report on his work.

A week ago, the Ministry of Chemical Industry and the State Drug Administration jointly signed an agreement with Lloyd's Group, under which Lloyd's Group provided China with a license to copy several new drugs at a very low price. The Ministry of Chemical Industry expressed its willingness to take effective actions to restrict the production of vitamin C by Canghua Science and Technology Trade Group in Maolin Province, keeping the annual output at no more than 5000 tons for at least five years.

With such a restriction, Lloyd's Group no longer has to worry about losing the global vitamin C market. Of course, due to the demonstration effect of Canghua Vitamin C, Lloyd's Group had to abandon its original price increase plan and add several clauses to guarantee supply in the supply contracts signed with several American feed companies.

From the perspective of outsiders, the Ministry of Chemical Industry and the State Food and Drug Administration got a great deal in this transaction, while Canghua Science and Technology was the one that paid the price.

Gao Fan took the initiative to propose to Zheng Linong that Canghua Science and Trade's production restrictions be used as a condition to exchange for Lowe's generic drug license. When Zheng Linong received Gao Fan's call, he almost suspected that the person on the other end of the phone was a fake Gao Fan. The two sides exchanged several secret codes before Zheng Linong confirmed that the other party's identity was correct and that he had not misheard Gao Fan's original intention.

Now that the deal with Lowe's has been reached, Zheng Linong also has the opportunity to learn the whole story from Gao Fan.

"This is actually just an empty favor." Gao Fan said to Zheng Linong with a smile, "We have discussed with the Hatchi Group, and both sides believe that it is best for the Canghua Vitamin Factory to maintain its current production scale within five years, and there was originally no plan to expand production.

"I asked Bob to arrange for people to hype the news of our expansion in the US market, with the purpose of luring Lowe's into taking the bait. Now, they have obediently come to our door to offer benefits."

"You, you feel uncomfortable if you don't plot for a day." Zheng Linong scolded with a smile, and then asked seriously, "Isn't your vitamin C selling well in the US market? Why doesn't Hatch Group want to expand production?"

Gao Fan said, "Low's is a behemoth, and the Hatch Group doesn't want to provoke it too much in this matter. Canghua's Vitamin C project is just a pilot project of the Hatch Group in China. It's fine to take out 2500 million US dollars to test the waters, but there's no need to invest more money."

"Even if Hatch Group is unwilling to make additional investments, with your abilities, Xiao Gaofan, can't you find other investors?" Zheng Linong asked.

Gao Fan shook his head. "I don't want to expand the production capacity of vitamin C for the time being. The first phase of the project will produce 5000 tons per year, and we can earn 4000 million US dollars in exports, which is already very good. If we expand production further, the workers and managers will not be able to keep up, and there may be problems."

"It's good that you have this awareness. I was worried that you were young and energetic and would be too ambitious," said Zheng Linong.

Gao Fan said, "If it were my nature, I might have really been too ambitious. However, Mr. Gu, Teacher Hai, Aunt Zhou, and my father, and yes, Director Xu of our provincial department, are all keeping an eye on me all day long. If I step out of line, they will pull me back."

(End of this chapter)