this man is not calm

Chapter 419 Leave room
When Jin Shang arrived at the venue, someone was already waiting outside.

Soon, Sun Daqi and Hao Qilian were found in the crowd. The latter complained that the process was too long, there were too many aspects to deal with, and there were endless questions to answer; the former was in good spirits, but he could not hide the fatigue on his face.

After returning from abroad, Jin Shang and Sun Daqi talked on the phone from time to time, but they had few opportunities to meet.

"I'm late?"

"No, that's the arrangement. There are quite a few people ahead of us who have been here since 8:30 in the morning... it's already past 1 in the afternoon."

Holding a half bottle of mineral water, Sun Daqi, who had spoken a lot for a long time, unscrewed the lid, took a sip of water to moisten his throat, and said,
"It's almost the fourth quarter, and it's almost time to see whether the performance of each department is good or bad this year. Those with good performance should consolidate their advantages, and those with poor performance should find ways to make up for it. It's been more than two years since we joined the World Trade Organization, and the original main tone was to assume that large state-owned enterprises were the main force of exports. The result is..."

The rest is known to everyone without me having to explain it.

After the shackles were removed, small and medium-sized private enterprises, like wild horses running free from their reins, became the mainstay of export and foreign exchange earnings. Not only did labor-intensive entities such as textiles and clothing, light handicrafts, and electronics OEM develop rapidly, but even precision consumer electronics, IT software, and cultural products, which had not made much progress in the past, performed well.

Among them, Jinxi Culture is the undisputed leader, with its output value comparable to the GDP of a small poor country. Calculated according to the unified standard, it is even larger than the size of some small counties in the central and western regions.

In just over four months, the overseas sales of MP3 players brought in more than billion yuan in foreign exchange, and domestic sales were a little less, but still amounted to more than billion yuan.

The figure for Xiaolingtong mobile terminals is even more exaggerated, with a national ownership of more than 40 million. Even after deducting various discount promotion coupons, the total revenue is more than 37 billion yuan. Because the selling price is too low, the gross profit is not high. Taking into account the deployment and maintenance of signal base stations, the surplus is less than 2 billion yuan. Considering inflation, it is basically just hard-earned money.

The conservative Xiaoling phone charges contribute nearly 500 million yuan in revenue every month very steadily, and the revenue is gradually increasing. It is the most stable and profitable business.

As for the sales of Jinxi Mall, Jin Shang boasted to Mei Yingnian the year before last that the revenue would exceed 2 billion yuan within three years. As a result, it exceeded 3% in more than two years. Most of the increase was due to the BB business of cross-border e-commerce. MP players were the main force, and other cultural products such as paper pants, books and audio-visual products, as well as canned vegetables and seasoning sauces were also sold a lot.

"Brother Sun, have you heard any news about the foreign trade and economic cooperation? What level is Jinxi Culture at..."

"Let me put it this way. Many well-known CEOs, after seeing your data and comparing it to their own, are speechless."

My performance is so dazzling that others seem so incompetent that I am too embarrassed to speak up.

"Okay, got it."

The World Trade Organization had just started to function, and everyone was not very experienced yet and didn't know how to play the game. They just pushed forward based on past inertia, which was completely different from Jin Shang's style of braving the wind and waves.

If the pedal of the sewing machine starts to smoke, how many clothes can be exported?

Can you earn enough for a year's hard work to buy a precision machine tool or a large passenger aircraft?
You can sell MP3 players, and you can also purchase five in bulk at a time.

This is the difference in efficiency, it is simply unreasonable.

This is also the reason why Jinxi Culture’s application to build a data center is extremely difficult in practice, but the higher-ups are still willing to understand the demands in detail and release it if conditions permit. If there are no difficulties, we will go ahead; if there are difficulties, we will try our best to solve the problems.

While the three of them were chatting, the figure of the second uncle Zhang Hua appeared not far away. Jin Shang waved his hand and asked curiously after approaching:

"What results?"

"The people from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs asked about short-term goals and long-term development plans, mainly about land utilization, bioenergy development, non-grain and oil crops, genetically modified organisms, and technical reserves for biomass fuels. It seems like they only touched on the subject briefly, and I'm afraid they still need your final say..."

"I see. I almost understand the key points. Don't worry, I'm well prepared. The principles have been explained clearly. The hearing is more for dispelling the doubts of the relevant parties. The procedural review is mostly a formality."

"hope so!"

As the key for the interest alliance to face the most basic primary industry, the scale expansion of Glacier Trade can easily reach its ceiling. The barbaric and inefficient stacking of production capacity is no longer feasible. We must tap into our potential, work hard on our internal strength, build our own core competitiveness, and widen our moat.

Although today's matter is mainly to explain the company's strategic direction and what it will do in the future, the written materials have been submitted, but not everyone can see them or read them carefully. It still requires the boss Jin Shang to use a few words to convince everyone concisely.

Half an hour later, a staff member informed Jin Shang to get ready. After exchanging a few more pleasantries with Zhang Hua, Hao Qilian and others, he came to a slightly smaller hall. It did not look like a hearing, but rather a group of middle-aged people waiting for Jin Shang to announce his work. After taking a few more glances, he even saw a few scholars with white hair and beards.

They were all strangers, and they didn't look like they were looking for trouble or just to make things difficult for the guy who was trying to show off his presence. Maybe they had something that was inconvenient to say in public.

Naturally, he sat down in an empty seat prepared for him. Jin Shang adjusted the microphone in front of him and said in a calm tone:

"My name is Jin Shang. If you have any questions, I will try my best to answer them."

The atmosphere was silent for a while. Everyone looked at the young boss who seemed a little too young. Then an old man who looked to be in his fifties and had a slightly bald forehead asked:
"I'm a researcher from the Academy of Agricultural Sciences, my last name is Zhang. I want to ask you about this 'energy tree' thing. Is there any successful precedent?"

"The road is definitely feasible. I know there are rubber trees, jatropha trees, capers and microalgae diesel, but the economic benefits cannot be expected in the short term. We can take it as a scientific research topic and focus on studying it. We should be cautious about promoting it on a large scale. We can try it in tropical areas with sparse populations like South America, or areas with excessive agricultural resources in the Great Plains of North America. But... I don't think the locals have such a strong motivation. There are better alternatives."

"You are very honest. You may brag, but you can still see the truth clearly."

How can you not be honest?
This thing is a gimmick at first glance. Not to mention how much land the so-called "energy tree" will occupy, how much effort will be spent on promoting its planting, and how much money will be invested in refining gasoline and diesel, the high cost is enough to make people stay away, and the output is not satisfactory.

"It can be used as a supplement, or as a substitute in special circumstances, but it is basically impossible to really expect it to replace fossil fuels."

"In other words, it is not easy to grow genetically modified sweet sorghum and use it as a raw material to produce fuel ethanol on a large scale?"

"That's fine, but we can't generalize."

Gently shaking his head, Jin Shang responded,

"Fuel ethanol, or industrial alcohol, denatured ethanol, etc., are actually the same thing. They are not food grade, but they are not bad as long as they are not too watery. Even if it is not used as a gasoline additive, it is a widely used chemical raw material and there is no problem with its consumption."

"Then do you know that the current domestic biofuel plan is almost just a symbolic pilot and has not been rolled out at all?" "Yes!"

Without understanding this, how could Jin Shang want to do this?

Prior to this, the only purpose of the four designated bioenergy companies was to properly dispose of old grain that was difficult to arrange casually and make it into industrial alcohol. It was just a less popular channel.
The biggest reason is that the price of anhydrous ethanol in 1997 was much higher than that of gasoline.

Adding ethanol to gasoline is a huge loss.

The E10 gasoline that is currently being promoted is actually gasoline with % ethanol added. Regardless of whether it is good or bad, its biggest purpose is to reduce dependence on crude oil.

The motherland in this life is much larger, and its territory barely touches the edge of the World Island Oil and Gas Belt. Generally speaking, natural gas is still relatively abundant, and the overall crude oil reserves are actually quite good. However, there are relatively few super large oil fields with good quality, large reserves and low mining costs.

It is not as good as the Middle East where oil will come out after just a few diggings with a shovel, nor is it as good as the chosen place on the southern coast of the Caribbean Sea where natural gasoline and light diesel can be used directly from the ground and gather into a lake without doing anything.

The slightly better ones are either plateaus with harsh geological conditions or permafrost in the far east of North Asia. They are hard to dig out, refined, and then transported to the place of use via pipelines. The cost is much higher than importing from overseas, which is very uncomfortable.

For private car owners, gasoline is really too expensive, but looking at the international situation, the control of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries has declined, the world has experienced several years of recession, and global demand is waiting to recover. The price of crude oil is less than 70 yuan in local currency, which is roughly equivalent to 9 US dollars in the previous life.

You read that right, it's not ninety dollars, it's nine dollars, which is cheaper than bottled purified water. The oil is almost free, and I guess the oil barrels are more expensive.

According to fair calculations by economists, it would be more reasonable for the current price to triple. However, international commodity trade is unreasonable. The price is just like this now. Just think about it and you will understand how cheap gasoline and diesel are now.

If you add anhydrous ethanol, which is not cheap, it is basically the same as eating beef noodles at a roadside stall using camellia oil that costs 90 yuan per pound.

Therefore, the current E10 90 gasoline and E10 92 gasoline in the country are either sold under the guise of genuine products or are just a symbolic amount for show.

"Since you know this, why are you still planning to produce anhydrous ethanol? Are you relying on something, or are you betting that international crude oil prices will rise sharply in the future?"

Just because it’s not cost-effective now doesn’t mean it won’t be cost-effective in the future!
If one day the standard price of gasoline exceeds that of anhydrous ethanol, then the biofuel project will have both fame and fortune.

However, the domestic situation is a bit special...

"It will increase, and it will increase to an astonishing level. This is one aspect, and the other is..."

Confirming this judgment, Jin Shang continued to explain,
"The profit of biofuel itself is only one aspect. I believe you all know that whether it is the comprehensive utilization of old grain, genetically modified sweet sorghum, straw, brewing residue, pulp wastewater, etc., to prepare anhydrous ethanol, put it into a biogas digester for fermentation, or use it as an auxiliary material for feed and waste, it is a sure profit. It just so happens that I have a complete set of layouts in agriculture, chemical industry, energy and residential applications. I can basically use up all of it for my own use or supply to the market. To be honest, if we only look at the energy conversion efficiency of the industry, biofuels, new energy or low-carbon energy-saving equipment, etc., are not cost-effective, but if we look at the entire industrial cycle, it is very profitable."

If we only consider bioethanol, we will definitely not be able to make back the investment. However, intermediate by-products, fermented feed, organic fertilizer, environmentally friendly return to the fields, recycled materials, pollution control, etc., all aspects have made achievements.

Whether it is worth doing depends on how it is done and from what standpoint.

"Since you have thought it through, I will not emphasize it. Energy supply and demand are important, but food security and land production must be guaranteed. Once it involves competing with the people for food and competing with food for land, there is no room for compromise. As long as the development of barren alkaline land with low utilization rate is not destructive, you can try to use it. Let's leave it at that. I am very interested in your 'Fast-Growing Bamboo Willow' project. If it is really as good as described, it will provide a great help to improve the environment and ecology."

"It is mainly because it is easy to survive, grows fast, is cold-resistant, and resistant to salt and alkali, which makes it very suitable for the north. It also has a high economic value. Currently, a small amount of transplanting is taking place, and it is performing quite well."

"If you don't mind, we will send a research team. We will not interfere with the operation, but only do data statistics and analysis. After all, there are very few large-scale practices like this in the world, and it is still difficult to promote the Three North Shelterbelt Project. In recent years, there have been fewer sandstorms in Beijing, but the air quality is still poor. There is still a lot of room for improvement."

"This is no problem."

In addition to papermaking and subsequent comprehensive utilization, forest furniture, high-quality building materials, waste material recycling, wood distillation, wood tar, charcoal, wood gas, etc. are actually good semi-finished by-products.

Many of them don’t even need policy support and can be digested on their own.

For example, as for offline channels, most people probably only know about visiting stores to advertise, delivering takeout, distributing coupons and so on. The real platform channels, the most profitable ones, are actually the intensive processing of materials, pre-prepared dishes, semi-finished ingredients, graded distribution, disposable packaging bags and boxes, knives, forks, bowls and chopsticks, and napkins, which can all be distributed through this line to every big restaurant, hot pot restaurant, snack shop, roadside stall and even mobile vendors.

Do you think this is over?
Kitchen waste and waste fats and oils, commonly known as gutter oil, are recycled, filtered to remove moisture, and the residue is sent to a biogas digester for detoxification, fermentation and reuse. Oils with complex ingredients can be easily made into biodiesel.

Jin Shang commissioned a specialized consulting company to conduct an investigation and found that biodiesel produced in this way is much more expensive than diesel currently on the market. However, it can be shipped to Western Europe and is still much cheaper than the so-called "energy trees" and "microalgae diesel" that are promoted locally.

The cost of refining biodiesel from urban kitchen waste is extremely low, and it is profitable.

Of course, the output is limited. All the waste cooking oil in a metropolis combined can only supply about a hundred large trucks. The volume is too small, so Jin Shang suggested that Li Xuan contact the major food factories, which are the sources of waste oil and fat. Instead of worrying about being caught and fined for secret discharge, it is better to sell them to the city's offline channels at a low price and process them in a centralized manner, even if it means losing money.

Even though this type of biodiesel is not exported in large quantities now, these very high-quality fuels can be sold back to retail restaurants at high prices, and they become very high-quality stove fuel, which is selling like hot cakes and is in short supply.

Also entering major stores in the Gyeonggi region is ordinary quality fuel ethanol, which is made into solid alcohol by adding a little calcium oxide, calcium acetate, etc. It is becoming increasingly popular in hot pot restaurants, Sichuan restaurants and small outdoor tour groups.

Therefore, if you control the channels and find the key points, making money will be much easier than starting from scratch.

In a prosperous society and era, as long as you can produce with guaranteed quality and quantity and control costs, you don’t have to worry about not being able to sell your products.

The current mainstream is underproduction, not overproduction. Thousands of ships are racing against each other, and the world is so big. It is better to be bold and start working quickly. This is the key to getting rich quickly and growing stronger.

Of course, the main issues today are not ecological agriculture and biofuels, but the Internet, e-commerce, data centers, new energy, ultra-high voltage and smart cities, especially the imminent issues of urban power grid transformation and energy supply.

After talking with Professor Zhang for a while, another person came to "confront" Jin Shang.

"By mid-October, can we see data centers, smart grids, e-commerce, and the remote dynamic response, electrification, and cashless payment parks mentioned in the document take shape? At least we need to be able to see and touch them, rather than just talking about them in general terms without any substance."

"If we only look at the ones in the submitted documents, they are actually quite conservative. The planned application scenarios are far more than that."

(End of this chapter)