Sail across the sea

Chapter 566 Your calculations still have some flaws

So it's just a matter of the capable doing more work.

If Gao Fan can't even understand this subtext, he shouldn't be eyeing that girl anymore.

"What does Aunt Xu want us to do?" Gao Fan asked directly.

Fluorochemicals was originally an area the group intended to enter, and Gao Fan had been thinking about how to get into this field. Now that Xu Ying had approached him, how could he not volunteer?
Gao Fan knew exactly how large the fluorochemical market was. In 2020, China's entire fluorochemical industry had more than 1000 research institutions and production enterprises, with an annual production capacity of over 500 million tons of various products and annual sales revenue exceeding 600 billion yuan—a truly huge market.

Xu Ying was unaware of this data, but she knew that the industry had great development prospects, and that Canghai Chemical would definitely not suffer losses if it entered this industry.

Otherwise, she wouldn't have called Gao Fan over to discuss this matter, and Gao Fan has no obligation to make contributions to the country without compensation, right?
"I hope your group can pay attention to this industry, at least to ensure that it doesn't collapse under the impact of foreign competition," Xu Ying said.

"Isn't this request a bit too easy?" Gao Fan asked with a grin.

Xu Ying nodded and said, "Hmm, it's a bit too easy, it seems like it doesn't do justice to President Gao's great talent and ambition. How about I revise it? I hope that President Gao's group can go all out to participate in the development of the fluorochemical industry, and in no more than 20 years, let China's fluorochemical industry occupy... no less than 20% of the global market share."

"That's not difficult, as long as the Economic Commission agrees to our conditions," Gao Fan said.

Sigh, my mother-in-law is still an older generation, not a time traveler. Twenty years is 2013. If any Chinese industry has less than 50% international market share in 2013, it will be too ashamed to show its face.

As for only having a 20% share, see that lamppost outside that looks like a huabiao? That's for you; just hang it up yourself.

However, Gao Fan dared not say such things. Xu Ying had already warned him repeatedly, calling him "President Gao," and if he dared to act arrogantly again, Xu Ying would surely call Gao Yiping over and discipline Gao Fan.

Xu Ying didn't think her goal was too low. In her mind, it was an ambitious goal to motivate Gao Fan to work hard, and she would be happy if he could achieve half of it.

Upon hearing Gao Fan's conditions, she picked up her pen to take notes and said, "Tell me, what are your conditions?"

Gao Fan said, "The first condition is that the country must immediately formulate a policy to implement a quota system for the export of fluorite, especially acid-grade fluorite. Ideally, the export of acid-grade fluorite should be reduced to zero within 10 years."

Fluorite, also known as fluorspar, is primarily composed of calcium fluoride and is a key raw material in the fluorochemical industry. Based on the purity of calcium fluoride in the ore, it can be classified into chemical grade, metallurgical grade, and construction grade, used as raw materials in fluorochemicals, metallurgical additives, and building materials, respectively. Chemical grade, also known as acid grade in the industry, refers to fluorite with a calcium fluoride purity exceeding 97% and extremely low levels of impurities such as silica, calcium carbonate, sulfur, phosphorus, and arsenic.

China is a country rich in fluorite resources, with proven reserves consistently exceeding 100 million tons. This figure, calculated by offsetting newly discovered reserves with mining output over the years, is roughly equivalent to one-quarter to one-third of global reserves. Meanwhile, China's fluorite mining output has long accounted for two-thirds of global production.

Fluorite is widely distributed in China, primarily in mountainous areas with low levels of economic development. Fluorite mining and export are important means for many regions to alleviate poverty and increase foreign exchange earnings, and are strongly supported by local governments.

It was only a prodigy like Gao Fan who proposed restricting the export of fluorite, and even directly claimed that the export of acid-grade fluorite would be completely cut off in 10 years.

Xu Ying showed no surprise at Gao Fan's request, as if it were entirely expected. She chuckled and said, "It's easy for you to make this request. But there are more than 20 provinces in the country that produce fluorite, and half of that production is exported. If you restrict fluorite exports, who will make up for the lost foreign exchange earnings?"

高凡道：“据我了解，目前我国每年出口的萤石在100万至150万吨之间。我们按150万吨来计算吧，国际市场上每吨萤石的价格大约是100美元，150万吨也就是1.5亿美元而已。”

"That's all?" Xu Ying repeated Gao Fan's words with a half-smile, and then said, "Your calculations are still a bit flawed. The average price of fluorite exported by our country is less than $60 per ton. This is one of the reasons, or rather, the main reason, for the rapid increase in our country's fluorite exports."

"Less than $60? How is that possible!" Gao Fan was shocked.

Because Canghai Chemicals planned to enter the fluorochemicals industry, Gao Fan had been paying close attention to related information these past few days. He had seen the price of $100 per ton of fluorite in a foreign journal, and this figure was certainly accurate. So, hearing that China was exporting fluorite for less than $60 per ton, how could he not be shocked?

But after he finished speaking, he raised his hand and slapped his head, saying self-deprecatingly, "I was confused. I noticed that the price of fluorite on the international market has been falling, and the production of fluorite in Mexico has also been declining, but I didn't expect that this was the result of China dumping its shares. Blindly competing for market share is not an isolated incident."

Xu Ying didn't care about what "involution" meant. Instead, she sighed and said, "This is one of the reasons why I specifically asked you to talk about this. The situation with fluorite is exactly the same as that with rare earth elements a few years ago, except that rare earth elements are scarcer, while fluorite is plentiful."

“Many provinces have been conducting fluorite exploration in recent years, and many new fluorite deposits have been discovered. Everyone says, since there’s plenty of this stuff, and it can be exported to earn foreign exchange, why not sell it?”

Gao Fan said, "I remember that our country's proven reserves are only about 1 million tons. If we mine 400 million tons a year, it will only last for 25 years. Even if subsequent exploration can add another 1 million tons of reserves, our consumption will also increase. If we consume 800 million tons or even 1000 million tons of fluorite every year in the future, how long can 1 million tons of reserves last?"

Xu Ying nodded and said, "You're right. Comrades from the Ministry of Geology and Mineral Resources and the Ministry of Chemical Industry have expressed their concerns and hope that the state can impose necessary restrictions on fluorite exports. They also said that various regions are now treating fluorite as a cash cow for exporting foreign exchange and probably won't take the state's restriction policies seriously. Only one person can curb the trend of blindly exporting fluorite."

(End of this chapter)