I am farming in the real world.

Chapter 305 Cocoa Beans and Rubber Trees

"What? This chalcedony contains a certain amount of emerald?"

"Does it mean that not only imperial green jadeite will do?"

Chen Jue looked at the green crystal ore in his hand and immediately perked up.

You should know that, in order to satisfy that silly villager Lao Shang, he spent 1888 million yuan to buy a piece of imperial green jade.

To facilitate the later development of MC trading functionality, they even built an underground tunnel from Rui County to the jade-producing areas of Myanmar.

As a result, a small team of clueless guys dug in Myanmar for several months but failed to find many pieces of imperial green jadeite that could replace emeralds. They did find quite a few other types of jade, though.

Now, things are looking up. They've just arrived in Africa and found a low-cost alternative to Imperial Green Jade. That's absolutely fantastic news for the villagers of MC.

So Chen Jue took out his phone, took a picture of the green chalcedony ore from Tanzania, and sent it to his old businessman back in China.

The other party replied almost instantly: "Boss, wait for me! I'm coming right now! (eyes sparkling with hearts)"

Even through the screen, the big-nosed old merchant's appetite was whetted, which shows that there is indeed something unexpected about this piece of green chalcedony ore.

After all, in order to find a substitute for the emerald, Chen Jue and Lao Shang had tried buying almost every type of high-end jewelry available on the domestic market.

I've tried everything: natural diamonds, Sri Lankan sapphires, Burmese jade, and various colored gemstones.

However, some less popular and inexpensive ores have experienced a situation similar to being overlooked.

Because chrysoprase from Tanzania is mainly composed of silicon dioxide (SiO), which is very different from the composition of genuine jadeite.

In the international jewelry market, this type of green chalcedony is not popular, and its price is so low that even locals are too lazy to mine it.

Therefore, after communicating with the old merchant, Chen Jue played with the green chalcedony ore and asked, "Mr. Jaliva, does your country produce a lot of this kind of ore?"

"If possible, I'd like to contract the mining operations in exchange for 50 refurbished ships, plus assistance in building a state-of-the-art photovoltaic power station for your country. What do you think?"

Upon hearing this, Jaliva, who had come to inspect the secondhand ship, immediately broke into a wide smile.

Others may not know the strength of the Magic Cube Group, but how could someone who studied in China not know?
It is currently recognized worldwide as the number one advanced high-tech and manufacturing giant, a behemoth that even America's Apple, Tesla, and Boeing have repeatedly trampled underfoot.

If a company chairman like this were to ask to lease a mine and promise to build a power plant, that would be incredibly beneficial for Tanzania, one of the world's least developed countries!

Without a second thought, Jaliva, who was in charge of trade negotiations, bowed and scraped to Chen Jue and said, "President Jue, the entire Tanzania warmly welcomes the arrival of the Cube Group!"

……

The fact that a chalcedony mine deemed almost worthless by large Western mining companies could be exchanged for such a large sum of infrastructure aid is definitely a very worthwhile deal for Tanzania.

Of course, after Chen Jue promised to refurbish 50 ships, the trade representatives from the other countries present panicked a bit.

There were only a little over a hundred ships that were transported to Africa this time, and Tanzania alone consumed a large portion of them. What about the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, and other countries?
In order to secure the remaining orders for existing shipments, trade representatives from several smaller countries began to follow suit and submit their own offers. The first was Ghana in West Africa, which surpassed South Africa in 2022 to become the world's number one gold producer.

However, gold deposits are extremely valuable, and most of them are monopolized by international giants and local governments. The "small business" involving dozens of second-hand ships is not even worth trading such top-quality mines.

After reviewing the list and samples brought by the Ghanaian trade representative, Chen Jue ultimately shifted his focus from mining and industry to contracting land locally to grow cocoa beans!
Most people probably haven't heard of cocoa beans, but they just need to know that they are the raw material for making chocolate.

Cocoa beans are known as "green gold" in the economic crop industry and have become a pillar of the industrial chain in Ghana, with an annual output of 100 million tons, helping Ghana become the world's second largest cocoa bean producer. The impact on local farmers is as many as 80 households!

Moreover, for cocoa beans, a cash crop, there is a unified purchase price standard in Ghana, with the lowest bid being $1800 per ton.

Candy processing plants and major chocolate brands from all over the world have set up factories in the area.

Chen Jue was interested in Ghanaian cocoa beans because he wanted to see if combining them with MC's cultivation techniques could produce cocoa bean varieties of even higher quality.

Although China is not a major consumer of cocoa beans and chocolate, with the development of the dessert market in recent years, chocolate-flavored drinks, candies, and pastries have a very promising market prospect in China.

It just so happens that the Magic Cube Group owns the chain restaurant brand 'Chen Ji'. With his expertise in the field, Chen Jue also wanted to try to create some different chocolate flavored products.

In addition to gold and cocoa beans, Ghana also boasts excellent bauxite and manganese mines.

However, both of these major mines have already been contracted out to Chinese mining companies, so after learning the details, Chen Jue decided not to get involved.

The contract was eventually finalized with representatives from Ghana for 20 refurbished ships, plus a subsequent order for 50 additional ships.

……

After securing the contract with Ghana, trade negotiations with representatives from the remaining smaller countries became much easier.

Liberia, a small West African country with a population of just over 500 million, boasts world-class iron ore mines like the Nimba Mountains and the Firestone Plantation, one of the world's largest rubber plantations.

Chen Jue wasn't interested in iron ore; they'd been mining it for so long in China and Russia that their warehouses were almost full.

They then finalized a contract with Liberian trade representatives to lease rubber plantations in the area, with a fleet of 30 ships.

Natural rubber has a wide range of uses; it can be used to make industrial seals, medical gloves, condoms, latex pillows, tires, and more.

It just so happens that among the cash crops Chen Jue collected, there was no rubber tree. Once the plantation is established, the old farmers can come and plant it.

However, after the contract was finalized between Cheng Jue and Liberia, Antoine, the last trade representative from the Democratic Republic of Congo, became somewhat uneasy.

“President Jue! You’ve already traded all your ships to them, so what will we in the DRC get?” Antoine questioned.

Seeing this, Chen Jue quickly picked up a copper ore sample that the other party had brought and reassured him, "Mr. Antoine, our Cube Group only needs one small-scale copper mine in your country! But you cannot interfere with us during the mining process."

"I can promise you that I will send 200 refurbished second-hand ships to your country within the next six months!"

(End of this chapter)