I am farming in the real world.

Chapter 318 A Super Big Deal!
The purchasing department colleagues were used to listening to the big boss, Versailles, speak.

Since joining the Rubik's Cube Group, rumors about General Manager Jue's generosity and indifference to money have spread to every employee.

However, 100 million tons of round steel was a huge amount, so after discussing it with Chen Jue for a while, Lü Shou, who was in charge of procurement, divided the entire procurement task into 100 procurement lists with 1 million tons of round steel as the unit and distributed them.

Furthermore, the targets for procurement were initially identified at the meeting.

In addition to placing most of the procurement packages with large steel companies, some procurement packages were diverted to iron ore storage warehouses and other ironworks that have physical inventory.

In short, according to Chen Jue's idea, futures and spot goods should be bought together so that neither is neglected.

After the procurement mobilization meeting concluded, the newly produced Flying Cubes were quickly transported away.

With the support and cooperation of the offices and branches of the Cube Group in various regions, employees of the entire group's purchasing and legal departments quickly began to travel in teams.

As for Chen Jue, who had only been back in Ruixian for two days, he stayed in his president's office and called several P6-level design supervisors from the design department to help him sketch out the 'Modern Wonder' design on the computer using 3D, CAD and other software.

The massive Rubik's Cube Group thus entered a highly efficient operating mode from top to bottom.

……

Early the next morning.

Shanghai, No. 1859, Expo Avenue, Free Trade Zone.

This is the headquarters of Baowu Steel Group Co., Ltd., the world's largest steel company.

The company was originally formed by the merger and reorganization of the renowned Baosteel Group and Wuhan Iron and Steel Company.

As a leader in the industry, Baowu Steel achieved an annual output of 1.3 million tons in 2023 and generated 1.11 trillion yuan in revenue that year, ranking 44th among the world's top 500 companies.

With over 25.8 employees, it is undoubtedly the leader in the steel industry!

However, early this morning, a group of uninvited guests suddenly arrived at the entrance of Baowu Steel's headquarters.

"Hello, we are from the Magic Cube Group, here to discuss cooperation. Could you please raise the barrier?" The driver of the Hongqi van greeted the security guard at the gate and handed over the business cards of the people in the car.

"Magic Cube Group?"

"Please come in! Please come in!"

The security guard at the gate took the business card and saw that the people in the car were all top executives and important figures, so he immediately made an exception and let them pass.

If it were a director from another small business visiting, they probably wouldn't even be able to get through the door in a place like this.

In other words, the Mofang Group has made a name for itself in the aerospace and aviation industry. It is the fastest-growing private enterprise in the country and has the strongest technological reserves, which makes this Hongqi commercial vehicle highly respected and noticed wherever it goes.

Sure enough, as soon as the business vehicle turned into the Baowu Steel headquarters building, several senior executives from Baowu's marketing department, who were responsible for receiving guests, came to greet them.

"Mr. Lü, welcome! Your company's name has been renowned throughout Baowu this year. It's great to finally meet you in person."

The middle-aged man leading the group is named Li Zhiqiang, and he is the head of the marketing department of Baowu.

In terms of rank, he was exactly the same as Lü Shou, so the two exchanged pleasantries as soon as they met.

However, considering that his boss was pressing him urgently, Lü Shou didn't dare to be negligent.

After shaking hands and exchanging a few words with Li Zhiqiang, he led a colleague from the legal department to a well-furnished meeting room.

"Mr. Li, I apologize for disturbing your work with my sudden visit! I'm out here on a procurement trip, and the task is quite urgent, so let's get straight to the point."

Lu Shou didn't even have time to drink his tea; he immediately had a colleague from the legal department hand him a procurement contract.

At first, Li Zhiqiang thought that all members of the Magic Cube Group followed such a decisive and efficient approach, so he chuckled as he took the contract and flipped through it.

However, when he saw the purchase amount marked on the contract, his hand trembled slightly!
"Mr. Lü, are you sure the decimal point on this contract is correct?"

"They intend to purchase 10 million tons of various types of 100mm round steel from our company?" "And why is the delivery time so tight! It must be completed within one quarter?"

"Not to mention the sheer quantity, the deadline is just too tight!" Li Zhiqiang couldn't sit still after reading the contract.

This is a whopping 1000 million tons right off the bat, directly targeting one-tenth of Wubao Steel's annual production capacity.

Such an incredibly large and terrifying order is something he's never seen in all his years in the market.

Even national-level procurements may not reach this level!

"Mr. Li, the construction period wasn't something I requested; it was set by our chairman. And to be honest, this 1000 million tons of round steel is just part of our procurement plan for this trip."

“For companies like Hebei Iron and Steel, Ansteel, and Shagang, which are your competitors, our group has assigned procurement teams to connect with them.”

"Price or cash settlement is negotiable! The only issue is the construction period. Our chairman has given a firm order: it can be extended appropriately, but it's best to complete the delivery within the specified timeframe. The longer the delivery is completed, the more commission we'll receive," Lu Shou explained with a wry smile.

"Sigh~"

"Is 1000 million tons just part of the procurement plan?"

"This order is really..."

Upon hearing this, Li Zhiqiang gasped, wondering what earth-shattering project the Magic Cube Group was planning.
The sheer quantity of round steel bars they started with was terrifying.

It's worth noting that the entire construction of China's world-leading high-speed rail network, consisting of eight vertical and eight horizontal lines, only consumed 2 million tons of steel.

And this is the result of the costs being shared by each steel company every year!
As a private enterprise, you immediately want to match the steel consumption of high-speed rail. Anyone would be unsettled in that situation.

So, after chatting with Lü Shou for a while, Li Zhiqiang, who was a little undecided, immediately passed on the procurement information to Lin Mingwang, chairman of Baowu Steel.

When Lin Mingwang learned that a domestic company was spending cash to buy up round steel bars on the market, he became very interested: "Old Li, do you think our company's production capacity can spare some to take on this huge order of tens of millions of tons? This is a lucrative cash order! It's much better than those contracts where payment is delayed."

Lin Mingwang flipped through the letter of intent for procurement issued by the Rubik's Cube Group, clearly unwilling to let such a lucrative deal slip away again.

After all, in recent years, these large steel companies in China have been tightening their belts under the pressure of 'overcapacity'.

Despite having the capacity to produce massive amounts of steel, they dare not produce too much.

Because producing too much stock can lead to unsold inventory, which can result in vicious price competition in both domestic and international markets.

This is why the government has been regulating domestic steel production capacity.

Then, an unexpectedly lucrative deal suddenly appeared, and Lin Mingwang, as the chairman of Baowu Steel, certainly didn't want to let it go easily.

"1000 million tons of ordinary carbon steel Φ100mm round bars, at the current market price, cost less than 4400 yuan per ton."

"If we use our improved process to produce in large quantities, we can retain about 15% profit per ton. If we finish in three months, it will roughly cover our net profit of 47 billion last year! And maybe even more!"

"Chairman Lin, I think we must accept this order."

“Even if we have to postpone other contracts, we must prioritize taking on the Cube Group contract!” Li Zhiqiang pressed a button on his computer and expressed his thoughts.

It's important to understand that the steel smelting industry belongs to the ferrous metals sector, where profit margins are very thin.

Don't be fooled by the fact that Baowu Steel's annual revenue can exceed one trillion yuan; it sounds impressive but is actually quite frightening.

In fact, the annual net profit attributable to the parent company is less than 50 billion yuan, accounting for only 0.5% of the total revenue!

With such low profit margins, any company would be devastated.

In contrast, the 1000 million-ton urgent order from Mofang Group was placed without any discussion of price or discounts, with the sole aim of ensuring delivery within the specified timeframe.

This gives Baowu Steel a lot of room to offer discounts.

(End of this chapter)