I Have a Mansion in the Post-apocalyptic World (Web Novel)

Chapter 839: Establishing a Monopoly

Translator: _Min_ Editor: Rundi

Matthew Griya, the former CEO of SunRice Australia, is currently serving as the CEO of Xin Ocean Agriculture, a subsidiary of Future Group.

Some time ago, the Future Group’s acquisition of SunRice’s assets was stopped by Cargill. The wealthy Future Group immediately launched an attack on SunRice. Because the terms offered by Future Group were lucrative, and Matthew himself was quite optimistic about the prospects submarine farming, he did not hesitate to accept the olive branch thrown by Future Group.

After he took office, he did demonstrate his own professional ability. He built the newly formed company of just six months old into a properly run organization.

After Jiang Chen returned from City M, the first thing he did was to set up a meeting with the CEO of Xin Ocean Agriculture. Although the company accounted for a very small proportion of the revenues of the Future Group’s subsidiaries, he had always regarded agriculture as a key project.

Agriculture had a direct bearing on the cost of living for the people of Xin and indirectly relates to the stability of the country under his control.

At this moment, Jiang Chen was listening to Matthew Griya’s report on the recent work of Xin Ocean Agriculture in his office.

“… The total area of 400,000 acres of seabed planting area of Xin Ocean Agriculture has been fully developed. The total revenue for the first quarter is estimated at 43.7 million US Dollar, accounting for 56% and 37% of the market share of Penglai City and Xin farmers’ markets respectively. According to the market research department, there is a large gap in the market for crops such as soybeans, tea, coffee and cocoa beans in Xin. In the next quarter, we plan to grow cash crops and add 500,000 acres of arable land.”

After listening to Matthew Griya’s report, Jiang Chen nodded and said.

“It is no problem to add 500,000 acres of arable land, but I have different views on growing cash crops.”

Although his plan was questioned by the president, Matthew Griya did not show any discouragement.

When he was the CEO of SunRice, the thing he did most every day was to persuade the shareholders who did not understand market conditions and get them to nod. Future Group had a single shareholder and Jiang Chen represented the entire board of directors. So persuading one person was a lot easier than convincing a group of people, so he patiently explained.

“Growing cash crops is definitely in line with the current market demands of Xin. And the company’s technical department has confirmed that it is technically feasible to grow cash crops on the seabed. If you still have doubts about this plan, I can provide you with a global and domestic market research report and industry analysis documents.”

“You misunderstood me,” Jiang Chen shook his head with a smile. “I’m not saying there is anything wrong with planting cash crops. It’s that the cash crops are completely unnecessary to grow on the sea floor. I have 15 million acres of land in Country F. Future Bank already distributed the land to Xin Ocean Agriculture in the form of trusteeship assets, and procedures will be completed in about three days.”

15 million acres!

Jiang Chen’s understatement caused a massive storm in Matthew’s head.

Others may not understand it, but as the CEO of the former Australian rice monopoly, he was well aware of the area of arable land in Southeast Asian countries. The 15 million acres of plantations, equivalent to 10,000 square kilometers, was almost one-tenth of the total arable land of Country F!

When did Future Group’s relationship with Country F become so close?

Would the Country F government allow foreign companies to control such a huge amount of arable land?

It was not after a while did Matthew recollect his thought and hid away his surprised expression.

“I’m sorry, got caught up thinking.”

“It’s okay.” Jiang Chen smiled and handed the plan on the table back to him. “I understand your surprise, but this is the case. The seabed farm area of Xin Ocean Agriculture is still for food crop. Cash crop can be grown in overseas plantations. We have already negotiated with the Moro government to build an industrial park based on food processing. Future Biology and Xinglong Food Processing are currently establishing food processing plants on MLL Island.”

Jiang Chen paused for a moment and looked at Matthew with a smile. His fingers drew a triangle on the desk.

“Country F produces the raw materials and Moro processes the raw materials to finally serves Xin’s market. We also plan to sell our products from Penglai city to the global market. I hope that the cash crops grown by Xin Ocean Agriculture are not just soybeans, tea, and coffee and cocoa beans; you must get involved with coconuts, rubber, and all other crops that Future Group can use. The priority is to meet the needs of the group, and the extras will be exported!”

“…A Monopoly.” After listening to Jiang Chen’s words, Matthew gulped and squeezed out a rather retro vocabulary.

The reason why it is retro is that in the modern society, this kind of monopoly of profiteering has almost disappeared. Even powerful consortia such as Morgan and Goldman Sachs do not dare to flagrantly monopolize an industry.

From the production of raw materials, to processing, to sales, and to the final distribution of profits, all are completed by one group. The highly integrated management structure would make each production link become a screw in the entire industry chain and it is all controlled by the same company.

The benefit is that the company’s production costs will be extremely low.

Lower to the point where other companies simply cannot compete.

To give a very simple example. Coca-Cola’s cost of producing a bottle of Coke was only about 70-80 cents, but if all the raw materials used for cans and aluminum were produced by Coca-Cola’s subsidiary, the cost would likely be reduced by half.

Of course, no one knew how much the costs was reduced by and Coca-Cola would absolutely not do so. Rockefeller first established the first monopoly, monopolizing 95% of the refining capacity, 90% of the oil transportation capacity, 25% of the crude oil production, the result was the oil empire he built was tragically broken apart in the hands of Roosevelt and turned into 34 “small Mobils.”

“Yeah.” Jiang Chen nodded and smiled bluntly. “You can understand the nature of Future Group as a new type of monopoly. But there is certainly still a difference.”

From the outset, Future Group has grasped the army as a key institution, and forcibly established a living space for monopolies through the control of sovereign states.

In other places, in China, or UA, Future Group would not be able to gain the soil for development. Sooner or later, it will have to touch the bottom line of the state’s tolerance on monopoly.

So far, Jiang Chen was most satisfied with two decisions he made. One was that he chose Xia Shiyu as the CEO without caring about personal grudges, and the second was moving Future Group to Xin.

“Got it. I’ll have to revise the plan. Tomorrow…no, the day after tomorrow, I’ll send the new one to your desk. Tomorrow I’ll have to meeting with Xin Ocean Agriculture executives, if we have 15 million acres in Country F, then we have to go back to the drawing board.” Matthew shrugged, but the exhilarating smile on his lips could not be hidden.

“Go ahead, don’t waste time here,” Jiang Chen replied.

After Matthew left, Jiang Chen leaned in the chair and called the office assistant. He asked her to make a cup of coffee. After that, he took a moment to think about the next direction of the development of the group.

The coffee cup was gently placed on Jiang Chen’s desk. The female assistant peeked at the eyes of the president with eyes closed.

Her daily routine consisted of making coffee, occasionally assisting other assistants in organizing documents and issuing detailed information such as letters of introduction. Logically speaking, due to the nature of her work, she would spend a lot of time with Jiang Chen. However, on the contrary, Mr. President skipped work every few days, and sometimes went on business for one or two months so she seldom saw him.

To be honest, she thought about fantasies with Jiang Chen.

Only Jiang Chen did not display any intention at all.

After quietly organizing the documents on the table, she quietly left the office and closed the door behind her.