nyslfriends #439 - The chaebols come on the scene
#439 - The chaebols come on the scene
As a cheater who shuttles between two worlds, Ren Zhong certainly knows the future technological development of the Bright Sword world, as well as the posture of industrial take-off.
He has the perspective of God and is a porter of world scientific and technological knowledge.
Although the starting point still requires efforts in hard labor such as clothing and food, this stage has been experienced, solving most of the labor force liberated from agricultural progress, and the path of industrial upgrading has begun.
For example, in the vigorously developing steel industry, electronics industry, automobile industry, aviation industry, shipbuilding industry and other popular industries, Ren Zhong has also invested a lot in these aspects.
Although it is somewhat difficult to move towards internationalization, they have now broken through the encirclement and achieved large-scale output returns.
The first industry to bear the brunt is the steel industry. With the recovery of the entire world and the needs of large-scale construction, the steel industry is a major industry that can make a lot of money at this stage.
The demand for steel is not only driven by the huge demand for domestic infrastructure construction, but also the demand in the world steel market is very strong.
During this period, the rogue eagle's steel industry, which took off first, has long been a pillar industry, with an annual steel output of up to 100 million tons, creating a new peak in the development of the rogue eagle's steel industry!
For the older generation of steelmakers, this level of development was something they wouldn't have dared to dream of more than ten years ago.
This is currently the undisputed second largest steel power in the Bright Sword world.
According to the previous simple concept, the level of steel production is approximately equal to the level of international strength ranking, because since World War I, steel content has been the most convincing indicator of a country's strength.
Guns need steel, cannons need steel, tanks need steel, and ships need even more massive amounts of steel!
The reason why the little devils came up with things like grenade launchers and midget tanks is essentially due to the lack of steel.
They save as much as they can and put the steel as much as possible on their so-called combined fleet.
After the little devils emptied their family fortune to build a combined fleet with a total tonnage of more than 1.2 million tons, they just started thinking about attacking Pearl Harbor!
After all, the peak period of the combined fleet was 80% of the tonnage of the rogue eagle's naval vessels compared to the total tonnage of the rogue eagle's naval vessels.
For the always confident little devils, they felt that such a small gap could completely gamble on the country's fortune.
However, this is just a one-sided fantasy of those little devils whose heads are filled with dung.
In fact, in terms of steel production, in 1942, the little devils' annual steel production was 7.4 million tons, while the rogue eagle's was as high as 79.1 million tons.
This data clearly shows the rogue eagle's huge advantage in steel production, which is more than 10 times that of Japan's steel production.
In terms of industrial development, the gap between the little devils and the rogue eagle is even greater, as if they are two worlds.
At the beginning of the Pacific War, the rogue eagle's industrial output value was more than 200 billion US dollars, while the little devils' was only 9 billion US dollars.
In terms of weapon production, the rogue eagle can produce 40,000 aircraft, 20,000 tanks, and 250 major warships annually, while the little devils' annual aircraft production is only 11,800 aircraft, 1,080 tanks, and 44 major warships.
Such a huge gap is as far away as the Pacific Ocean that separates them!
It would be a ghost if the little devils could win!
The victory or defeat of World War II is ultimately reflected in production capacity.
Whoever can form a real steel torrent is the winner.
Any conspiracy is vulnerable in the face of the general trend, whether it is the little devils' successful sneak attack or the three Germans' early brilliant achievements, all cannot resist the opponent's true foundation and strength.
Ren Zhong knows this very well, and also knows the context of the future economic decisive battle, so in terms of steel blast furnace construction, the pace of expanding production capacity has not stopped during the Three-Five Period, but has shifted from the north and southwest of the country to the relatively resource-poor south.
It is planned to select two port cities in the south to build two 10 million-ton-level large blast furnace steelmaking bases with more than 1,000 cubic meters, and the iron ore and coal mines are planned to come from overseas.
The technical route of these two steel bases is also mainly based on oxygen top-blown converters.
While building mature large blast furnaces of 1,000 cubic meters to 1,500 cubic meters, these two steel bases also undertake the experimental demonstration work of building new super-large blast furnaces of 2,000 cubic meters and 3,000 cubic meters.
Once these two blast furnace technologies mature, the subsequent steel production capacity construction will be transferred to this new type of super-large blast furnace.
From the current development of world blast furnace technology, the largest blast furnace in the rogue eagle's steel plant has reached a level of more than 4,000 cubic meters, and the largest blast furnace they plan to build is Bethlehem Steel's L blast furnace, with a volume of up to 5,860 cubic meters!
This volume is almost the peak of the blast furnace.
In the main world, even in the 21st century, the largest blast furnace is only the Gwangyang No. 1 of Xiaobangzi Pohang, which was completed in 2013 with 6,000 cubic meters.
However, Ren Zhong is not prepared to compete for the first place in this regard, but proceeds from a practical point of view.
Blast furnaces of 2,000 cubic meters to 4,000 cubic meters are the mainstream of future steelmaking furnaces.
This volume combines the characteristics of steelmaking efficiency and flexibility.
It can be directly used to refine crude steel from iron ore, and it can also be used to further refine special steel from crude steel.
At the same time, it can also better match the subsequent steel rolling process.
The daily production capacity is a scale of 1,000 tons to 2,000 tons.
A million-ton-level steel branch plant can be completed with just 3 blast furnaces.
From a planning point of view, these two super-large steel bases in the south will mainly be export-oriented, so they are built in places with convenient sea transportation.
At the same time, the production capacity to meet domestic demand, from the overall scale, the plan for the next 5 years is to basically double the current steel production capacity!
That is to say, it will reach a level of 80 million tons.
This data is close to the level of the current largest steel country, the rogue eagle, and is comparable to the Northern Bear, which has exploded with steel production capacity.
Of course, Dongda's steel production capacity facing domestic demand is not aimed at creating weapons and equipment for the steel torrent, but at development and infrastructure construction.
Therefore, in terms of the construction site selection of steel plants, it mainly follows the principle of iron ore production areas and major use areas.
New steel plants with more than one million tons are built in areas in China that are currently lacking steel, including the construction of 5 million-ton-level steel plants in the Western Regions iron ore, as the main steel force for building the frontier.
In the vast frontier areas, the railway network construction plan of 10,000 kilometers and the highway network construction plan of 100,000 kilometers have been included in the national plan, and the construction of the Lanxin Railway is now being carried out on a large scale.
Of course, such a large-scale construction process will not be accomplished overnight, but will be divided into 5 five-year plans to be implemented separately.
Along the course of these transportation trunk lines, the next step is large-scale urban construction and the construction of modern energy bases and agricultural bases.
There is plenty of land suitable for cultivation in the frontier, but the natural conditions are harsh, making large-scale artificial planting unsuitable. However, if road networks are built and mechanized farming methods are adopted, this place would become one of the most reliable new granaries for Todai. Moreover, although no one knows it yet, the best oil and gas fields in Todai are located underground here, but Ren Zhong knows it!
Although it is not yet time to start exploiting the oil and gas fields here, in the energy crisis that will erupt in a little over a decade or two, these oil and gas fields will be Ren Zhong's best trump card for Todai!
That's not all. In the more distant future, under the new energy landscape, the frontier region will be the best area in the country for wind power and photovoltaic power generation. Once the conditions for constructing power transmission channels are resolved, the energy output from the frontier will be endless. Facing the new era where new energy gradually becomes mainstream, this treasure land will play an even greater role.
Of course, Ren Zhong wouldn't dare to talk about these plans now. He is simply trying to learn from the experiences and lessons of the main world in terms of transportation infrastructure construction, and making up for the shortcomings in future transportation construction in advance. For example, the Lanxin Railway was planned as a double-track line from the beginning, although only a single track will be built in the first phase. However, by considering the double-track design in advance, there will be no major twists and turns in the future, ensuring a smooth transition for the double-track construction.
The initial construction standard is also designed according to the 100 km/h diesel locomotive mode, while also reserving space for electrification. After the speed is increased, the new electric locomotives developed later can fully reach the standard of 160 km/h.
These are all part of the domestic construction plan. Based on Todai's current massive infrastructure construction and the backdrop of the first takeoff of the real estate industry, the domestic steel consumption alone can support the digestion of new steel production capacity. Moreover, Ren Zhong will not only consider the domestic market.
The international market's demand for steel is increasing with the overall global economic recovery. In Ren Zhong's main world, this market was seized by the small island nation who expanded their production capacity. In this space-time, Ren Zhong certainly won't give the small island nation this opportunity, and directly built two large-scale steel bases in the south with a capacity of tens of millions of tons to compete for the international market.
With Todai's current steelmaking technology imported from the main world, although it cannot compete with the rogue eagle in terms of the largest blast furnace, Ren Zhong's investment in steel smelting and steel rolling in the main world has reached hundreds of millions, relying on a holding steel plant to continuously export the smelting technology of the main world to the Bright Sword world.
Therefore, Todai has not only built such a large production capacity, but also has leading technological improvements in terms of steel varieties and quality. Coupled with the cost advantage, the price of higher-quality steel is even stronger than competitors. Under such conditions, Ren Zhong is prepared to dominate the world's steel industry in this field!
Of course, Todai's steel output will not only be in the form of raw materials, but also in the form of industrial products with higher added value such as automobiles and ships, so that steel can be sold at higher prices.
The plan was good, but after the news of the construction scale spread, Ren Zhong didn't expect to encounter a counterattack from the rogue eagle steel trust.
"Our overseas ore buying team encountered strong snipers in Samba Country and Kangaroo Country. USS reached exclusive agreements with the three major local mineral suppliers, CVRD / BHP / Billiton, directly excluding the possibility of iron ore supply of more than one million tons. And these three suppliers occupy the position of major suppliers in Samba and Kangaroo Country. Unless we find more small and medium-sized suppliers, at least dozens or hundreds of them can meet our annual demand for iron ore of up to 30 million tons.
If this is the case, the stability of our iron ore supply and cost price advantage will be difficult to guarantee." Yu Zhaomin, the executive secretary-general of the Todai Steel Federation, found Ren Zhong with frustration and reported to him.
Steel is one of the national overseas strategic plans, and Ren Zhong is the person with the highest weight who truly influences this plan.
Because from technology to market, no one knows better than Ren Zhong how to carry out this matter.
It's just that Ren Zhong felt a little headache when he heard the bad news.
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He didn't expect international competition to appear in front of him so quickly, and this time it was not at the national level, but one of the world's top chaebol groups.
USS is a very strong chaebol group in Rogue Eagle, monopolizing more than 65% of the steel market in Rogue Eagle. Now that it is starting to target Todai's bulk iron ore procurement, it is obviously feeling threatened by Todai's new steel industry plan.
In fact, standing in their position, it is indeed understandable. Todai has a greater cost advantage, and the development of Todai's steel industry has definitely been researched a lot by these top steel chaebol groups. Todai's steel industry is completely different from that of the Northern Bear. The Northern Bear is obsessed with building its own steel torrent and seems to have no interest in commercial competition, or rather, does not have that commercial gene.
But Todai is different. Starting from the initial clothing industry to the food industry, now it is the turn of the automobile industry. Each step of internationalization has been very steady and competitive.
Previously, Todai's steel industry has been committed to meeting domestic demand. Although USS has no chance to enter the Todai market, it has not regarded it as a competitor, so the two sides are at peace.
But now it is different. It has been directly reported from Todai's internal planning that two 10-million-ton export-oriented steel bases are to face the international market, directly grabbing the food on their plates! This is a bit unbearable.
In terms of cost, this is a new opponent that is stronger than competitors in Europe. Although they are still in the planning and construction stage, USS believes that Todai's infrastructure construction speed will definitely rise within five years, so it must be tough at the start to suppress Todai's competitor in the bud. If they need raw materials, then they must first control the raw materials end!
Upon receiving the news, Ren Zhong didn't say anything. He didn't understand the situation very well, so he didn't open his mouth. However, after returning to the main world to study the historical footprints and comparing the situation in the Bright Sword world, he found that in 1956, the world iron ore industry had not yet formed the "Big Three" pattern that is familiar today.
Although Samba Country's CVRD company has been mining iron ore for 12 years, its current scale is obviously much worse than in the later generations of the main world, and it is far from being an ore oligopoly. BHP and Billiton are also developing independently. Although they are important ore suppliers in Kangaroo Country, they do not have as much market share as in later generations.
And RIO TINTO is still painstakingly operating in Europe, and has not established a globalized business.
But even so, Ren Zhong found that it was very difficult for outsiders to enter the international iron ore market.
Because in the capital of these leading ore supplier companies, most of them also come from Rogue Eagle and Europe.
This matter is really a bit troublesome.