Return to Hong Kong Island for a Century

Chapter 11 You're a Pussy (Second Update) Please recommend, collect, and read
December 6, 1979, the 17th day of the 10th lunar month.

Li Song got up early, washed up, went out to eat, and then went straight to Jindu Shopping Mall to check the price of diamonds.

"The benchmark price of a flawless diamond is $6 per carat!" Information in this era is not as transparent as the Internet, so you can only know it by going to a specialized place of sale.

Li Song couldn't believe his glasses. The retail price was much higher than the benchmark. Specifically, retail price = benchmark price x (1 + VAT + consumption tax + rent + promotion fee + advertising fee + profit)

Generally speaking, the retail price is four times the benchmark price, of course, big brands may also be 6-8 times.

That means the retail price of one carat is close to US$30.

Li Song learned about the price of diamonds on the second-hand platform last night. A one-carat flawless natural diamond costs only more than 10,000 US dollars, while artificially cultivated pure diamonds are even cheaper, but he cannot buy them.

"Something must have happened to cause diamond prices to crash?"

"Could it be the impact of cultured diamonds?" Li Song muttered to himself, and there was also a sense of urgency.

In fact, Li Song's selling of diamonds at this time was his last act of madness.

The high price of diamonds is partly due to Debis's monopoly, which involves reaching agreements with various diamond-producing countries.

Another reason is that the price of diamonds has been rising since 1970, and some people have hoarded diamonds.

This involves the diamond industry chain, origin, processing, and sales. Diamonds from the origin are sent to London, then to the Middle East for cutting, and then sold all over the world.

The problem lies in the processing of Xiaobawang.

The currency of Xiaobawang has been falling in recent years, while the price of diamonds has been rising. What would you do if you were a diamond merchant?
Of course, they hoarded diamonds. So by 1980, nearly half of the diamonds coming out of London were hoarded by these businessmen.

This results in fewer and fewer diamonds on the market, and the prices are getting higher and higher.

Debis actually knew about this, and in 77 he introduced a surcharge in an attempt to cut off the funding chain of these businessmen.

That is, a 40% surcharge will be charged when selling diamonds, but it can be cancelled at any time.

That is to say, a diamond worth $10000 is now priced at $14000, but once it is cancelled, it will be $10,000.

Then the bank has to bear the risk, because something originally worth $14000 becomes $10000 overnight.

But Xiaobawang's merchants were not afraid at all and directly bought it at twice the price because Xiaobawang's currency depreciated at a rate of 50% per year.

Later, Debis decided not to provide diamonds to the European and American merchants who supplied Subor. This resulted in Subor's merchants having no source of goods and no source of bank funds, forcing them to sell their inventory, which in turn led to a drop in prices.

By March 1981, Debis discovered that the dealers at Cassidy had hoarded more than $15 billion worth of diamonds.

Moreover, these businessmen also want to take away London's pricing power, otherwise they will fail, and they also want Debis to buy back the shares at the original price.

But Debis simply didn't have that much money.

在1980年的3月，一克拉的无暇级别的钻石基准价格是6万3千美金，而到了1981年9月，只有2万3千美元一克拉。

And the biggest threat is the constantly discovered diamond producing areas. The first is the diamond mine discovered in the small town of Kimberley on the Australian Island, which can produce up to 50 million carats annually.

Of course, there is also a huge diamond mine on the fat bear's side, with reserves of tens of trillions of carats. This mine alone is enough for the whole world to consume for three thousand years.

After visiting several shops, Li Song felt that the diamonds priced at hundreds of thousands or even millions of Hong Kong dollars were too crazy.

"How do I ship the goods?" "Even if the shipping price is only 30%, I will still make money!"

"Even if the price of diamonds in 1979 is the same as in 2080, I will still make money because I can exchange it for gold." Li Song's headache now is how to ship the goods.

Li Song also had a very urgent feeling, that is, the price of diamonds was so high that it might collapse tomorrow.

Li Song really wants to ship the goods to the mainland, but it feels inconvenient.

Li Song returned home, washed his face, and calmed himself down to think.

"Just do it!"

"It's enough to make a profit, because the origins of these diamonds are unknown."

"It would be best to exchange it directly for gold. Unfortunately, I don't know any black market merchants, otherwise I could exchange it directly for gold."

Li Song looked at the natural diamonds on the second-hand platform. Of course, the smaller the diamond of the same quality, the cheaper it is, and the larger the diamond, the more expensive it is.

"I got it!" Li Song thought of a person, that is Tian Jiahui. The lawyer has contacts with all kinds of people, and this guy doesn't look that rich.

Moreover, those who were born and raised in Hong Kong Island usually know a few people in the gang.

In fact, Li Song also thought of the pawn shop, but the guys in the pawn shop are all local tyrants. The price of diamonds is so high now. If he pawns it himself, he might be eaten up along with the diamonds.

Moreover, he was afraid that the price of diamonds would collapse in the future and these local tyrants would cause trouble for him again. There was nothing these people could not do.

Li Song went to a public phone and called Lawyer Tian directly.

"Hello, this is Tian..." Tian Jiahui had just finished lunch and sat down to work when he received a call.

"It's me, six o'clock in the afternoon, the old place." Li Song said directly.

"Oh my god..." Tian Jiahui almost smashed the phone when he heard the familiar voice on the phone. Why did he answer it? Why did he answer it?

"Mr. Li, don't mess with me..." Tian Jiahui could only say it in silence, but the other party hung up the phone.

At six o'clock in the afternoon, Tian Jiahui appeared at the beach with a dead face. Looking at Li Song, who was wearing a sweatshirt and leaning on a chair with no manners, he wished that someone could come out and stab this idiot to death.

"Mr. Li..." Tian Jiahui sat next to Li Song with a briefcase and said weakly.

"Take this. I'll give it to you regardless of whether the task is accomplished or not." Li Song took something out of his pocket and spoke.

"No..." Tian Jiahui was so scared that he was about to jump up, but Li Song grabbed his shoulder, lifted his arm roughly, and put the thing in Tian Jiahui's hand.

"I have a batch of one-carat flawless diamonds. Could you help me find a way to exchange them for gold? This is a gift from me. It doesn't have any serial numbers and its origin is clean."

"After the deal is done, I'll give you a 10% commission."

"And you have to hurry, because this is just one batch of goods, and I'm not the only one moving them. If someone else gets there first, neither you nor I will have anything to eat. Look at how poor you are. Whether you can buy a house or a car depends on you this time. Such a good thing will never happen to others."

"For a carat of this size, the lowest retail price in the market is 20 US dollars. You loser." Li Song said, standing up and preparing to leave.

(End of this chapter)