1988: Back to the human world for a few years

Chapter 36 All the way north

Starting from the mid-20s, as relations between China and its northern neighbor returned to normal, the trade mechanism based on government-to-government agreements on the exchange of goods gradually faded, and free forms of private trade quickly became popular in both countries.

In the early days of opening up, since both countries implemented foreign exchange controls, there was no unified banking system for trade settlements, and private trade could only be conducted in the form of barter. As a result, a well-known group was born... the traders.

Speaking of profiteers, the first person that everyone probably thinks of is Boss Mou, who exchanged 500 carloads of goods for an airplane. Although there is no evidence, in Yang Mo's opinion, the fact that such a bizarre-than-fiction plot could appear in the s and s was probably not just because people of that era were so courageous.

Therefore, when Miss Mu told him implicitly that the purpose of restructuring the winery was to engage in foreign trade, the first two words that came to his mind were "smuggler" and "North" - there was no other way, the situation encountered by liquor among all categories of China's foreign trade was too special.

………………

"Are you planning to... sell these things to the north?" Yang Mo looked at Miss Mu with a very strange expression.

"Huh? Why do you think so?" Mu Liya's face changed slightly and she asked back subconsciously.

As soon as he saw her reaction, Yang Mo knew that he had guessed right, and immediately rolled his eyes: "Is this hard to guess? The economic situation of our northern neighbor in the past two years is no secret. In addition to light industrial products such as food, clothes and shoes, the most in-demand thing there is probably strong liquor that you can drink at any time - and this thing is currently considered a high value-added product. As long as it suits their taste, those Davaris will probably not be stingy and spend a week's salary to buy such a bottle."

Mu Liya stared at him for a long time, and suddenly laughed: "I didn't realize that you are so concerned about international affairs... What do you think, is my idea good?"

Yang Mo sneered at her and said, "It's a good idea, but it's a pity... it's unreliable!"

Mu Liya tilted her head and looked at him: "Oh? Unreliable? How unreliable?"

Looking at the other party's expression, Yang Mo swallowed what he wanted to say, and finally shrugged: "How simple it is, the people over there are not fools. After being fooled by domestic traders with inferior goods for two years, they will still do business with us even if they want to make money, but the standard for goods has begun to be low price as the first consideration."

"Think about it. Although Qilu is also in the north, it is still quite far from its northern neighbor. Unless you can get a special train, the freight alone will be a headache. Once the price is high, you will lose your competitiveness... Don't forget, there are many wineries in the Northeast. They have a geographical advantage and don't have such high transportation costs."

As if she could hear Yang Mo's insincerity, Mu Liya looked at him with a smile: "Don't worry about the freight. Although I don't have the ability to send a special train in batches, but... I can ship by sea!"

As he said this, he glanced at him with a bit of pride and said, "Don't forget, Dongying also has an outlet to the sea."

Feeling that the content of the young lady's conversation seemed to be somewhat biased, Yang Mo's heart was alarmed: "But the price is still not as cheap as that of the local winery... You know, that place is the main grain producing area, and the price of raw materials is even cheaper than ours. Moreover, once they get the chance, the Chinese are very good at price wars."

Mu Liya waved her hand nonchalantly: "Don't worry, we will find someone to connect with us when the time comes, and we won't go through the wholesale channel, so it doesn't matter whether the winery in the Northeast will find the business opportunity."

Seeing that the girl seemed to have suddenly loosened the grip on her mouth, Yang Mo almost wanted to run away - Sister, I'm just a new employee who just got a job, am I supposed to listen to these words?
Originally, he wanted to find some other excuses, but seeing Mu Liya's behavior, Yang Mo could only raise his hands in surrender: "Okay, to be honest, I still don't agree with the merger of the First Winery."

"The reason is simple... all this wine can't move at all!"

"In other words, even if the first batch can be handed over smoothly, the second and third batches will definitely not be able to move!"

Mu Liya heard this and looked puzzled: "Why? Don't the people over there like strong liquor very much?"

Seeing this, Yang Mo sighed: "That's because... even strong liquors are different from each other!"

Mu Liya's beautiful eyes were full of confusion: "I don't quite understand what you mean!"

Yang Mo took a breath with some toothache, thought for a while, and asked tentatively: "Manager Mu, have you ever learned about the more mainstream spirits in the world?" Mu Liya thought for a while: "Wine... I only know that beer, wine, vodka, sake, rum, whiskey, tequila are more popular in the world."

Well, this woman really doesn’t understand wine!

Yang Mo was completely speechless and corrected, "I'm talking about strong liquor. To be more precise, it's strong alcoholic beverages... beer, wine, sparkling wine, fruit wine, etc., because the alcohol content is generally not high and the stimulation is not strong, so they don't belong to this category!"

As he spoke, Yang Mo felt a little tired and lit a cigarette, not caring whether it was appropriate for the lady sitting opposite him to do so or not: "You were half right just now, indeed... apart from the thousands of local spirits in various regions, the more popular spirits in the world are nothing more than vodka, sake, rum, whiskey, tequila, brandy and gin."

"But have you ever thought about why Chinese liquor ranks first in the world in terms of both production and consumer numbers, but has not become popular internationally?"

In fact, the export of Chinese liquor was once in a very embarrassing situation.

Although the annual quota is not small, after export, except for some overseas Chinese, a large amount of liquor displayed on supermarket counters has no one interested in buying it - even though these are good liquors produced by major Chinese manufacturers, and even though many of the liquors are actually sold at a lower price than in China.

Of course, this situation has been greatly improved with the rapid improvement of people's living standards and the rise of duty-free shops abroad, but in the final analysis, this is still a de facto conversion of exports to domestic sales - 99.9% of those who drink liquor are still Chinese.

But it was obvious that Miss Mu's understanding of this question was full of subjective conjectures. When she heard Yang Mo ask this, she snorted in displeasure: "After all, isn't it because foreign countries lack understanding of our liquor, and our country now lacks sufficient voice... Humph, I believe that as long as there is a chance to go abroad, our country's liquor will definitely become one of the world's mainstream spirits!"

Yang Mo rolled his eyes: "Although I don't know if that day will come, but even if it does, it will be in the future... As for now, please respect the objective laws?"

Objective laws?

Mu Liya, who was somewhat unhappy with Yang Mo's reaction, glanced at him but said nothing, as if she was waiting for his explanation.

Seeing this, Yang Mo shrugged and said, "Do you know which is the best-selling spirit in the world, excluding China?"

Mu Liya snorted: "Is there any need to ask? It's either whiskey or vodka."

Yang Mo sneered: "You probably saw it in a Hong Kong or Taiwan TV series, right? If Director Mu is stupid enough to use the content of Hong Kong or Taiwan TV series as commercial information for reference, I think it's better for you not to carry out your subsequent work!"

After that, he didn't bother to care about Mu Liya's ugly face and gave the answer directly: "Currently, the best-selling spirit category in the world is sake, followed by vodka. As for whiskey... I'm sorry, it doesn't even make the top three!"

"Sake?" Hearing this unexpected answer, Mu Liya looked at Yang Mo in surprise.

"That's right, sake... to be precise, it's sake from the island countries and South Korea." Yang Mo's expression was a little silent, without a trace of pride in knowing more than others.

In fact, if he had not worked in foreign trade for a period of time in his later life, he would not have believed this data - after all, in the minds of Chinese people, the presence of sake is too weak.

But in fact, since the 70s, sake, represented by island countries, has begun to be sought after in the international market of strong alcoholic beverages. By the mid-8s, it had occupied nearly 13% of the international spirits market share. After entering the millennium, South Korean sake came from behind and continued to lead the international spirits market, and the share of sake in the global spirits market once reached an astonishing %.

"I admit that sake is popular all over the world, and it is indeed undeniably related to the economic and cultural influence of the island country. However, the most basic reason why this thing has been accepted so quickly around the world is its taste acceptance... In fact, not only sake, but any spirits that can become popular in the international market have very good palatability... And in this regard, objectively speaking, our Chinese liquor is actually an alternative." Yang Mo concluded.

Palatability?
Is Chinese liquor an alternative?
Mu Liya looked at Yang Mo thoughtfully.

(End of this chapter)