The Industrial Giant Reborn

After the secretary got the permission, he quickly sent it back to the Brazilian Consulate. The Consulate was also very quick, and the two parties quickly made an appointment to meet three days later.

"Hello, Mr. Consul." Chen Zhiwen said with a polite smile.

"Hello, Mr. Chen." Consul Thales said with the same smile: "Nice to meet you. This is Mr. Tavares from the Brazilian Ministry of Commerce. He is responsible for foreign trade and investment."

"Hello, Mr. Tavaris." Chen Zhiwen said in English to the brown man next to Thales. Just as he imagined, Brazil's search for him must be about business cooperation, otherwise there would be no reason for him to be a businessman.

In fact, this is not the first time that some national-level representatives have come to see me. When the scale of the industry reaches a certain level, it will inevitably attract the attention of some countries, especially countries near Asia, all of which are striving for the huge amount of Galaxy Trade. Chen Zhiwen also met several people, such as representatives from Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, and some smaller countries, to deal with the order volume.

"Hello, Mr. Chen." Tavaris also replied in English with some accent. He came from Brazil and unlike the consul in Hong Kong, he could speak Hong Kong's native Cantonese.

"Please take a seat here. I have prepared the best coffee in Brazil." Chen Zhiwen led the two of them to the inner room of the office. There is a professional conference room with all kinds of fruits and drinks, just tea and coffee. There are many varieties to choose from for guests who may come from different places around the world.

"Thank you." The two Brazilians seemed to have smelled the authentic coffee and said with smiles.

"I don't know why you two came to see me?" Chen Zhiwen asked directly after chatting with them for a few words.

Tavares paused and said, "Mr. Chen, we are here this time hoping to invite you to invest in Brazil."

"Investment? What to invest in?" Chen Zhiwen nodded and asked. This was also expected.

"We hope that Mr. Chen can build a new factory for your electronics company in Brazil, so that it can cover the entire South America and even the Americas. With our location and the convenience of shipping, this is better than producing from Hong Kong and shipping it to the United States. The cost is much lower," Tavaris said with a smile.

"As far as I know, Brazil's local electronics industry is not bad, so why does it need my investment?" Chen Zhiwen said with a smile.

In later generations, Brazil and even South America had almost no electronics industry, but in the 1970s, Brazil's electronics industry was actually pretty good.

In 1971, the Brazilian government established a special information industry department to take charge of the domestic electronic information industry. With the national will as the core, it promoted the development of the domestic electronics industry, including electronic parts, chips and computers (industrial control). This was similar to the 1970s. Wanwan operation.

Although Brazil is currently in a sovereign debt crisis, its economy was still very good in the 1970s. Even with the opening of the mainland next door, the initial catch-up goal is to become a country with an economic level like Brazil. The internal market is large enough, and Brazil's electronics industry The industry is unique, even surpassing Wanwan in scale, but South America is far away from Asia and has little influence.

If this is just the case, considering the population of Brazil and South America, it is not necessarily necessary to invest in building factories, but it is not impossible to consider. But the problem is that the development of Brazil's electronics industry has infringed on the rights of American companies to many extents. Patents, you know, are European and Japanese semiconductor companies. It is difficult to bypass American patents. They have to pay patent fees or spend a lot of money to develop new technologies. Europe and Japan are strategic allies of the United States, but Brazil is The United States often opposes the issue of dealing with polar bears, so it naturally does not grant patent authorization.

In order to develop the electronics industry, many Brazilian companies began to infringe on U.S. patents, and were eventually slapped with global sanctions by the United States in 1986. All industrial products were difficult to export until they knelt down under pressure in the 1990s.

In this case, Chen Zhiwen didn't want to get involved in this muddy water. Brazil's market was not small, but it was far behind Europe and the United States.

"Mr. Chen, we have more than 100 million people in Brazil, and the consumption power of electronic products is still very strong. At least, you can try to produce Brazilian goods in Brazil? This can also avoid expensive tariffs." Tavaris added He said that being rejected is normal, but you still have to fight for it.

"Mr. Tavaris, Brazil's electronics industry is mainly industrial computer and information industry. This is completely different from our Midea game console industry. Without corresponding supporting facilities, if we invest, we will need to import various parts from Asia. , although they are all small items, the time cost is too high." Chen Zhiwen shook his head and refused. It is one thing not to want to invest, but there must be a better reason for refusing. After all, the other party is also a national representative, and he still needs to save face. Yes, at the same time, cooperation may not be possible in the electronics industry, but not necessarily in other fields, but I cannot say that I know the future, or even the patent issue between Brazil and the United States. This has nothing to do with me, and there is no need to get involved. .

"Mr. Chen, as far as I know, you built the industrial chain in Hong Kong yourself. Then you can also copy it in Brazil. If it is a funding problem, our local banks can also help. Or you don’t want to invest and participate, that’s okay. We have many electronic parts factories in Brazil. They can send people to Hong Kong to study. As long as you invest in a main factory and various suppliers, our government will make overall arrangements." Tawa Reese said.

"This operation can indeed reduce our workload, but for us, there is no practical benefit. At most, we can sell more in Brazil, which is not very attractive." Chen Zhiwen shook his head and refused.

Even from an economic perspective, there is no point in going to Brazil. Even if the Brazilian government can really build an industrial chain, then for itself, it will gain some more local Brazilian customers, which may increase profits by several million dollars. Well, tens of millions is hard to come by. For a mere few million dollars, he doesn't want to go to that trouble.

"So we hope that Mr. Chen can help our Brazilian electronics industry, and in return, we will give Mr. Chen something you need!" Tavaris said.

"Oh, what?" Chen Zhiwen asked calmly. He didn't think that senior Brazilian officials were fools. They came directly to him and asked him to build factories or place orders in places with no electronics industry foundation. , basically 99% of the time it won’t work, and the same goes for any other large company.

"We know that Mr. Chen's investment territory includes many farms and ranches, and we also have many such places in Brazil. If we can reach a cooperation, then we can consider selling part of the state-owned farms to Mr. Chen. I wonder what Mr. Chen thinks?" Tavaris said.

"A farm? It's indeed a good thing, and I do need it." Chen Zhiwen admitted generously, but quickly said: "It's just that there are too many places in the world where I can buy a farm, even Argentina is enough, not to mention there are The United States, Canada, Australia, Southeast Asia, and even parts of Europe are fine. Brazil is indeed good, but it’s not the only one.”

There are indeed many farms in Brazil, but there are too many things like farms, and there are many places to choose from. If the price is right, it is not impossible to buy one, but there is no need to combine it with other conditions.

"In terms of price, we will definitely have a big discount." Tavari paused and said.

"If there is a discount, I will naturally be happy to cooperate, but this has nothing to do with the electronics industry. It is purely a farm transaction. How about it?" Chen Zhiwen asked with a smile.

The sovereign debt crisis in South America is not over yet. Foreign exchange is very tight, including in Brazil. Therefore, the so-called preferential treatment is actually very willing to allow the farm to be traded, which can directly earn foreign exchange. However, this kind of transaction, Chen Zhiwen If you can cooperate, you can lower the price and buy permanent land, which is still a good deal.

But the electronics industry may be sanctioned by the United States in the next ten years. The money you invest is not equivalent to being thrown into the sea. Ten years later, Brazil's electronics industry has completely declined, becoming a dumping ground for European and American electronic products.

"This..." Tavaris frowned and said: "Mr. Chen, if you are interested in the farm, of course you can invest in Brazil, but I still hope that we can cooperate in the electronics industry? Why don't you say it? What are the conditions you want?"

"It's impossible for me to invest in electronic cooperation, but if you can make some simple parts and pass our internal review, you can also become our supplier." Chen Zhiwen thought for a while and said: " The conditions I want are also very simple, I hope to invest in a company in Brazil."

"Which one?" Tavaris asked quickly.

"Vale!" Chen Zhiwen said with a smile.

"Vale Mining Company?" Tavaris was stunned for a moment and said, "Mr. Chen, Vale is our state-owned mining company in Brazil, and its equity is not sold to the outside world."

"Really, but as far as I know, Vale's largest foreign shareholder is Japan's Mitsui \u0026 Co., right?" Chen Zhiwen said with a smile.

Although he doesn't like Little Japan, Chen Zhiwen has to admire them in terms of economic development. From textiles in the 1950s to furniture in the 1960s to steel in the 1970s to cars and chips in the 1980s, they are basically all kinds of cranes. In the war against the United States, the "Plaza Accord" was finally signed under the threat of aircraft carriers to abolish military power. In the field of traditional resources, Japan, which had no raw materials, sent a large number of domestic consortiums to invest overseas.

A large number of mines in Australia and Brazil were acquired by Japanese consortiums, and a large number of shares of mining giants were also acquired. A large number of farms were even purchased for food. The most active company involved in this was Mitsui \u0026 Co., a subsidiary of the Mitsui Consortium. It is said that by the 1990s, Mitsui \u0026 Co. alone had become the world's largest asset company. Even more than 20 years later, the domestic steel association negotiated with the iron ore giant, and Mitsui \u0026 Co. was behind it. Even among the world's top ten copper ores, five are controlled by Japanese conglomerates.

"Mitsui invested in Vale a long time ago," Tavaris said.