After dinner.
Nan Yi and Sophie Marceau were sitting by the Peacock Lake, enjoying the cool breeze and watching TV. The school beauty appeared behind Nan Yi with a phone in her hand, ruining the mood.
"Madam's phone call."
Nan Yi took the phone and walked away for a distance.
"Scarlett, what's going on?"
"Adam, I'm not very optimistic. The conclusion reached at the CCI [Cotton Council International] meeting is that this year's cotton export price will be based on 74 cents per pound, and the fluctuations will not be too large."
Nan Yi sighed and said, "74 cents, the price is really getting lower every year. The cotton fields in Texas and Kansas will start the three-stage rotation from next year. This price has already fallen below our psychological line. In the next few years, it is estimated that it will continue to show a downward trend. The subsidies from Washington are not enough to make up for our losses."
The loss is not really a loss, but falling below the psychological line means that Scarlett Grain Group starts to earn hard-earned money.
"I thought so too. Will you still sell cotton this year?"
"Sell, of course we have to sell. It won't hurt us to cooperate with the work of NCC [National Cotton Council of the United States, of which CCI is a subsidiary]. It's better to make less money."
"Adam, cotton can be stored for a long time and the cost is not high. Should we make some cotton reserves?"
"Of course we need to have reserves, but not for speculation, but for the consideration of storing means of production at low prices. No matter how much we store, we cannot compare with the national reserves of major countries. 74 cents is a very low price for us, but for China and India, this price is not low.
Last year, China's cotton production decreased, and the domestic cotton supply in China was in short supply. This year's cotton purchasing strategy will be adjusted..."
Scarlett interrupted Nan Yi and said, "Adam, what do you think will be the adjustment? Will the unified purchase and sale be broken, and the purchase of cotton will no longer be...ah, the exclusive business of the supply and marketing cooperatives?"
"Oh, Scarlett, please be more serious about the agriculture part next time. We spend so much money shipping newspapers from all over the world to New York every year. You can't just read what you are interested in."
"Ha, I remember that, you continue."
"Then let me tell you the whole story. In order to motivate cotton farmers to sell their products, China has rewarded cotton farmers with fertilizers, raw grain quotas and cloth coupons according to certain standards since the new cotton was put on the market in 1961.
In 1979, China implemented a method of purchasing cotton based on a base amount and providing rewards for over-collection. The base amount remained unchanged for three years. Purchases within the base amount were made at the national price, and purchases outside the base amount were marked with a 30% increase on the national price.
From 1979 to 1983, the domestic purchase volume exceeded the base amount by 5,716.5 tons, accounting for 53.8% of the purchase volume during the same period. In 1984, the purchase volume was changed to a proportional price, implementing a "positive 4:6" ratio, that is, 40% was purchased at the national price plus a 30% markup, and 60% was purchased at the national price.
In 1985, the unified purchasing system for cotton was abolished and contract purchasing was implemented. For all contract-ordered cotton, a price increase was still added according to the prescribed proportion, and fertilizer sales were rewarded. After the ordered quantity was completed, farmers were allowed to sell the cotton on the market, and it could also be circulated through multiple channels. Prices followed market trends. The state did not increase prices for overpurchases, and did not reward fertilizer sales.
Last year, due to the decrease in cotton production and the shortage of supply, the China Cotton Purchasing Work Conference stipulated that the cotton purchase in 1988 would still be operated by the supply and marketing cooperatives, and other units and individuals were not allowed to interfere in the purchase and sale of cotton.
It also stipulates that cotton production, supply and marketing shall be subject to unified planning and unified pricing; the purchase, supply, allocation and inventory of cotton shall all be subject to mandatory planning management.
The purchase price was changed to a "reverse 70:30" ratio, that is, 30% was purchased at the national price, and 70% was purchased at a 30% increase on the national price.
Although the purchase price increase is relatively large this time, the price of 50 kilograms of rolled cotton should not be higher than 177 yuan, which means that the price per pound will not exceed 43 cents. This is the price calculated according to the official exchange rate. If the exchange rate is drained, China's cotton purchase cost will be lower.
Let alone India . The enthusiasm for cotton exports can be adjusted by adjusting subsidies. Clothes are not food. You can't skip a meal. Three years for new and three years for old. Three years for mending. Don't think about manipulating the international cotton price unless you can be both a player and a referee. "
"Adam, this world has rules. We can't have all the good things. When playing games, fairness is the first element. You can cheat to give yourself a little advantage during the game, but you can't make extremely unfair rules. This is not allowed and will easily cause public outrage."
"So, for now, don't think too much about financial operations on cotton. Just focus on production, supply and demand. Also, if you don't want to read the newspaper, you should also read the report of the agricultural group."
"OK, that's enough. I have to leave to pick up Adler. There's a game at Yankee Stadium."
"With which team?"
"City derby."
"Oh, what a shame it's not the Red Sox."
"Ahaha, Adam, you don't have to pretend. You know nothing about baseball."
Scarlett said this and sang Chubby Checker's "The Twist" on the other end of the phone.
A long time later, Nan Yi learned from a talk show that Chubby Checker was the halftime performer of this year's Super Bowl. Otherwise, he really didn't know what the joke was about Scarlett's song, although he knew very well that the song was used to mock him for not knowing anything about the Super Bowl.
Amid the shrill singing, Nan Yi hung up the phone and returned to his seat to continue watching TV.
What was playing on TV was naturally a TV series, a Hindi version of the TV series of the same name adapted from the epic work "Mahabharata". Nan Yi and Sophie Marceau were just watching for fun, and the ones who really enjoyed it were the servants of the manor.
They sat on the ground, staring at the TV screen intently. Even hail could not stop their enthusiasm for watching TV series.
There were articles published in newspapers saying that Indians treated watching this TV series as a festival. They would burn incense and bathe in front of the TV while waiting for the TV series to start. Some of them would even put wreaths on the TV that only "God" could enjoy.
It is said that there is also a train from Patna to Delhi which is inexplicably delayed by an hour every Saturday night.
After investigation, it was found that no matter whether it was the passengers, the guards, or even the drivers, after arriving at the stop, they would all go straight to the waiting room without any prior arrangement. Everyone tacitly waited until they finished watching the latest episode of "Mahabharata" before getting on the bus.
Regarding this statement, Nan Yi does not think it is false. The development of Indian TV dramas is similar to that in China, the penetration rate of TV sets is even lower than that in China, and entertainment is almost scarce. If you miss an episode of a TV drama, you will really beat your chest and stamp your feet.
Sophie Marceau's attention was not on the TV screen. As soon as Nan Yi returned to his seat, she began to study the ten fingers of Nan Yi's hands, playing with, stroking, rubbing, and then taking a bite to taste them.
When she got tired of playing with her fingers, she said to Nan Yi, "Adam, let's go for a walk."
"There are snakes. Are you afraid?"
"Don't be afraid, the snake will bite you first."
"Okay, let's go for a walk."
Nan Yi stood up and pulled Sophie Marceau up. The two of them hugged each other and slowly walked towards Peacock Mountain.
"What are you going to do tomorrow?"
"Look at the information."
"Not going out to play?"
"I need to look at a lot of information tomorrow, including the International Fertilizer Industry Association's world fertilizer demand data from the past few years, etc. I will probably be able to give you the time after four o'clock in the afternoon."
"It's so late. I want to go out and play early." Sophie Marceau said with a pout.
Nan Yi tilted his head, looked at Sophie Marceau and said, "Then you go and play by yourself first, and I'll meet you at five o'clock. What do you think?"
"All right."
the next day.
Soon after getting up, Sophie Marceau went to the south of Mumbai. As Nan Yi said himself, he was staying in the study reading some materials.
For several days in a row, Nan Yi stayed in the study during the day and went out to play with Sophie Marceau at night.
After a week, Nan Yi started to go out with Sophie Marceau during the day, and return to Peacock Villa in the evening to hold one conference call after another.
As the meeting progressed, two new companies were added to Nan’s portfolio—the first was the New York-based Nitrogen Phosphorus Potassium Corporation, a company that specialized in investment and trade in fertilizers but did not directly produce them;
The second is PotashCorp, headquartered in Saskatchewan, Canada. This company is focused on the field of potassium chloride. Its initial development model was very simple - mergers. It continuously acquired small and medium-sized potash mines in Saskatchewan and New Mexico. In ten years, it grew into a giant in the potassium chloride field that can compete with Saskatchewan PotashCorp, Mosaic, and Aquaponics.
The establishment of the two companies also affected a series of capital flows in Nan's affiliated enterprises. The major shareholder of Argentine Potash Company is Scarlett Mining Group, and the funds it invested in Argentine Potash Company came from the Scarlett Fund; and the funds of the Scarlett Fund came from a newly established fund, and 80% of the funds in the fund were quietly taken over by Weir Bank.
The second largest shareholder is an offshore company controlled by British Royal Capital. A small part of the company's funds came from British Royal Capital, and most of the funds were borrowed from Jardine Matheson Bank in London.
The shareholder structure and funding sources of the Nitrogen Phosphorus Potassium Company are relatively simple. In terms of equity positioning, this is a company that implements the AB share model and is preparing to go public in the future. The shares that Nan will eventually hold will not exceed 10%, and may even be lower than 5%.
The Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium Company is an enterprise that is competing for the right to speak in the fertilizer field and then for pricing power. It is hard to say whether it can succeed, so it must absorb allies as much as possible and share risks as much as possible.
It would be best if we succeed, but failure doesn’t matter. Nan’s company now has abundant capital to try and fail.
When Nan Yi temporarily withdrew his attention from the two companies, it was already September. Just when he was able to accompany Sophie Marceau wholeheartedly for one day, he received a weather fax - an easterly wave formed on the northwest coast of Africa, which crossed the tropical Atlantic and developed a wide wind field center north of the equator.
According to its development speed and direction, it is likely to form a hurricane that passes through North and South America, and there is a high probability that it will be a high-level hurricane.
After reading the fax, Nan Yi's mind raced, a smile spread across his face, and he was worried about the huge loss that was about to come.
"Flats, your trip to India is over, pack your things now and fly today."
"Adam, what's wrong?"
"I'm going back to New York right now. There will be a serious natural disaster soon. If I'm lucky, my pocket money will become very abundant. If I'm unlucky, there will be no concept of pocket money in the future."
"Is it serious?" Sophie Marceau asked worriedly.
Nan Yi said jokingly, "It's very serious. I'll probably fly to Paris next month and let you support me."
"Okay, I'll support you."
Nan Yi and Sophie Marceau played together for a while, then they went to pack their things. Then on the way to the airport, Nan Yi went to downtown Mumbai again and met with Chanda Kochha, vice president of the Labor Group, and Vikram Pandit, head of Shockwave, and told them to continue according to the plan.
As Nan Yi boarded the plane, the Yingbin Manor, which had not yet been completely completed, was put into use. The personnel who were transferred from the financial group and agricultural group of the Information and Policy Committee Xiangkeng also boarded the plane to New York. The personnel who were transferred from the Information and Policy Committee New York and Scarlett Fund said hello to their families and moved into the Yingke Manor with their own things.
On September 4th, New York time, Nan Yi returned to Scarlett Manor.
On the first day, the telephone and fax machines of the makeshift hurricane command room in Yingbin Manor next to Scarlett Manor kept ringing. Various information was collected, and disaster response notices and measures were sent to every farm of the Nan family in North and South America. There was no way to deal with the crops in the fields, as they could not be harvested before the season came. However, other supplies had to be properly managed, and the roofs and walls of the buildings had to be reinforced.
If a hurricane really hits us, every bit of loss we can avoid will be a plus.
On the first and second days, the hurricane command room was mainly busy with internal disaster response. On the third day, the situation began to change.
The desks in the command room were arranged in a U-shape. Scarlett sat in the middle, and Nan Youqiong was arranged to sit next to her on a small stool; the others formed a square around her, and Nan Yi sat in the corner of the command room with a newspaper in his hand.
"Chad, speak up," Scarlett said to the agricultural team's workstation.
Farming depends on the weather for food, so it is important to grasp the weather information in time. The agricultural team responsible for agriculture naturally has personnel who are specifically responsible for analyzing weather information, and Cha is an expert in this field.
Chad looked away from the computer screen and looked at Scarlett and said, "The probability of a hurricane forming is 95%, and the probability of a high-level hurricane forming is 79.8%."
"Where to go?"
"The Indian Archipelago and the coast of Central America will certainly be affected . There is a 90% chance that Jamaica, Haiti, the Dominican Republic and Honduras will not be spared. After passing through Central America, the greatest possibility is that it will enter the Gulf of Mexico, land in Mexico, and then sweep across the southeastern coast of the United States."
“Where will the disaster be worst?”
"Mexico is the most likely candidate," Chad replied.
"Toby."
Toby, the agricultural team member responsible for planting planning for the next year and future years, is familiar with the main crops and yields in countries around the world.
"Coffee and corn." Toby replied simply.
"Caesar, you are responsible for the C-shaped coffee beans of the CSCE [New York Coffee, Sugar and Cocoa Exchange] and the corn of the Chicago Board of Trade. Wendy, you are responsible for the U-shaped coffee beans of the LCE [London Commodity Exchange]. Get moving. I want to see the market analysis report as soon as possible."
"Yes, Madam."
“Got it.”
At Scarlett's command, all the staff of Scarlett Fund and Financial Team started moving.
"Adler, pour me a cup of coffee."
"Yes, Mom."
Nan Youqiong saluted Scarlett and immediately ran to pour her coffee.
For Nan Yi, he only needs to care about whether this hurricane will have any impact on his farm and ranch, and whether there will be any opportunities to acquire land in the future. He does not want to care about futures speculation, nor does he need to care about it. As far as finance is concerned, he is not good enough in front of Scarlett.
Nan Yi simply gave his private money to Nian Lufu and asked Nian Lufu to help him follow the market conditions. He did not make any mandatory regulations on how much profit he could make.
After reading the newspaper, Nan Yi put it away, went to a computer, plugged an Internet cable into the host computer, turned on the computer, entered commands on the keyboard, and connected to the computer room of Scarlett Manor.
In the computer room of Scarlett Manor, Nan Yi spent seven million US dollars to build a hard disk matrix with a capacity of "up to" 300GB.
300G can't store much stuff. A rough electronic map of the world and a few hundred satellite map scans will take up all the hard drive space.
After calling up the electronic map and pressing the Tab and Enter keys several times, Nan Yi brought up a more detailed map of the Caribbean region.
He first moved to Honduras and stayed there for a while, then immediately moved to Cuba. Thinking about Cuba's complex political system, Nan Yi pressed the cursor to move the map to Jamaica.
Looking at the small island of Jamaica, Nan Yi stroked his chin unconsciously.
“Hurricanes prefer Jamaica, which is only over 10,000 square kilometers. Once a hurricane hits, all of its land will not be spared, and the Blue Mountain coffee plantations will probably be completely destroyed.
In 1969, Jamaica was hit hard by a hurricane. Japan's Ueshima Coffee introduced ecological technology into coffee cultivation and assisted the revival of Jamaica's coffee industry. To express its gratitude, Jamaica signed a contract with Japan in 1971, agreeing to ship 90% of its annual production to Japan.
Now, twenty years later, if another hurricane comes, according to the Japanese way of doing things, Japanese trading companies engaged in coffee trade will probably join forces to provide loans to some of the best coffee plantations in the Blue Mountain area, taking the opportunity to deeply intervene in the production and sales of Blue Mountain coffee.
As a result, the annual production of Blue Mountain coffee is expected to fall into the hands of the Japanese. "
Nan Yi thought about it, picked up the phone and dialed.
After waiting for a long time, the call was finally connected.
"Moshimoshi."
"Yami, it's me. Sorry to disturb your sleep."
"President, has the hurricane begun to rage?"
"Not yet. When you get up tomorrow, go to Baoguo Mihu and send a representative to fly to Jamaica immediately. Once you get there, contact the Blue Mountain Coffee plantations immediately, show goodwill, and promise that if they are hit by disasters, Baoguo Mihu will provide them with loans."
"President, Blue Mountain Coffee is controlled by several trading companies. They are in the same industry as Baoguo Migu . In the past, they kept to themselves. If we take the initiative to provoke a dispute, we will be boycotted by them."
"First seize the opportunity, then negotiate. I am not very interested in Blue Mountain coffee, I just want to wade into the muddy waters of coffee. It is time for Lu Yu Tea to get involved in the coffee field. This time we will not develop from scratch, but directly start with a merger."
"President, are you interested in Laurent?"
Laurent is the best-developed coffee chain brand in Japan, and Laurent Trading Co., Ltd. is also one of the Japanese giants in the coffee wholesale field.
"Yes, we will seize the bargaining chips and negotiate with Laurendo. We will not seek to acquire the company, but to acquire shares."
"Hayi."
"You and Mao Feng should discuss how to proceed with the following matters. Here are two tips: the name of the coffee company is Shepherd. Pay attention to the developments of Que Nest in China."
"President, you don't want to compete with Que Nest now, do you?"
"Oh, am I so ignorant of my own abilities?" Nan Yi said with a wry smile, "I just want to take advantage of the situation."
"I understand. President, are you trying to talk about Quesu's support for coffee planting in Yunnan Province?"
"That's good to know. Yunnan and Cuba are at the same latitude. In theory, Yunnan can grow coffee of the same quality as Cuba."
"I see, President. Anything else?"
"No, go back to sleep."
After hanging up the phone, Nan Yi continued to look at the map, moving slowly as he looked. When the center point of the map became Medellin, Nan Yi frowned, closed the map, exited the hard disk matrix, and unplugged the network cable.
"Adam, call that bitch in London. Wendy needs assistance from London." Scarlett yelled at Nan Yi as soon as his hands left the keyboard.
"Call Dunstone yourself. Bolin Investment Holdings' business will be fully controlled by him in the near future."
"Ha, the treatment of aristocratic ladies is different. They don't have to work when they are pregnant?" Scarlett laughed sarcastically and said, "When Adler called me mommy in my belly, I was still working."
Scarlett was clearly trying to make a fuss about the topic, and although her words were a little incoherent, Nan Yi couldn't correct her or find fault with her. The wisest thing for Nan Yi to do at this time was to remain silent, so he closed his mouth, walked to the corner, picked up the newspaper, and read the advertisement in the centerfold.
The nameless anger came quickly and went away even faster. When the work arrangement was over and the family of three returned to the neighboring manor for dinner, Scarlett returned to normal.
While eating steak, Scarlett suddenly said, "Adam, Adler likes baseball very much."
"Do you like it very much?" Nan Yi turned his head and looked at Nan Youqiong and asked.
Nan Youqiong nodded affirmatively, "Yes, Dad, I like baseball."
Nan Yi turned to look at Scarlett again and asked knowingly, "So, what do you think?"
In fact, Nan Yi knew that Scarlett's nameless anger had been extinguished on the surface, but the flame in her heart had not been extinguished. Scarlett clearly wanted to take advantage of the situation again and wanted him to use his private money to buy a baseball team for Nan Youqiong.
In the final analysis, it was a series of delayed chain reactions caused by Catherine's pregnancy.
"Buy a team for Adler as his birthday present next year." Catherine picked up the red wine glass, took a sip, and said as a matter of course: "You just need to be responsible for the purchase, and I will provide the subsequent operating funds."
Nan Yi glanced at Nan Youqiong who was staring at him expectantly, and nodded bitterly, "Son, you can't buy any team you want. There has to be a balance between what you want in your heart and what you can buy.
Do your own homework, investigate the background of the team you want, who its shareholders are, how much budget it will take to buy it, what difficulties will be encountered, etc. You have to figure these out yourself. "
"Yes, Dad, I will do my homework." Nan Youqiong nodded vigorously.
It won’t be long before he has a big toy. Nan Youqiong becomes very happy and has a great appetite. He eats steak much faster.
On the contrary, Nan Yi's eating speed slowed down a lot. He was already thinking about how to balance the bowl of water. In April next year, he would have three biological children. If Catherine gave birth to a boy, he would need three copies; if she gave birth to a girl, he would need four copies.
In Nan Yi's opinion, girls should be raised in wealth, both spiritually and materially. Girls must have everything that boys have, and they have to have double. Boys may not have something that girls have.
No matter it is three or four parts, it will be a major test for Nan Yi's private money. It can be predicted now that Nan Yi will still be a pauper next year.
Scarlett, who had played a trick on Nan Yi, quickly finished her steak, refilled her glass with red wine, shook the glass, and said leisurely: "Adam, what do you think of Buffett?"