Chapter 914: Old Friend in a Foreign Land

Chapter 914: Old Friend in a Foreign Land

For the French who invest or engage in trade activities in East Africa, they believe that the economic activity in East Africa is not bad, and the opportunities they encounter here and with their compatriots are very great.

"Hi, Burley, you returned to China last month. I thought I wouldn't see you for a long time!" Cross said in surprise when he saw a familiar figure.

"It turns out to be you, Mr. Cross. Of course I can't leave for too long. After all, we are doing long-term business with East Africa. I just returned home last month to report some situations to the company."

Burleigh is the commercial manager of a French machinery company in East Africa. With the recent policy of phasing out backward industries in the central and eastern regions of East Africa, many equipment and technologies have been updated, so the import of related foreign products is also increasing, and Burleigh is here. Under the premise, a large order was negotiated with East African manufacturers, which attracted the attention of the company headquarters.

"I really envy you who are engaged in mechanical equipment. Recently, many factories in East Africa have been replacing equipment. Many old machines in Dar es Salaam were dismantled and then transported from the railway, and then internationally higher-level equipment was purchased. This time Your company must have made a lot of money!”

Cross asked enviously. Dar es Salaam is one of the key cities in East Africa's industrial upgrading. It mainly eliminates a number of old equipment introduced in East Africa in the 1970s and 1980s. Some of these equipment are even old enough. Going back to the 1940s and 1950s.

During the economic crisis of the 1970s, when the European and American industries were introduced to East Africa and the domestic industrial system was established, the requirements for equipment were not high.

Take France's West African colonies as an example. Although the area is not small, many of them have only been included in the colonial scope in recent years. Moreover, the black population in West Africa is actually not large, and it has been divided among several countries outside the region.

It’s just that the foundation of West Africa is better than that of East Africa, so the impact is not too great. However, due to the backwardness of civilization, the overall natural growth rate of black people is actually not high.

After all, East Africa was a completely agricultural country with zero foundation at that time. The technology and equipment requirements for industries starting from scratch were not too high, but paid more attention to price.

And because of the crowding together, the colonies of various countries in West Africa were actually in a state of fragmentation, making it impossible to integrate effectively.

Both he and Burleigh are French. As an industrially developed country, France has a relatively high demand for agricultural products, especially cash crops.

On the one hand, East Africa's domestic industrial level has improved and many things can be manufactured independently. On the other hand, due to compulsory education, East Africa has cultivated a large number of qualified industrial workers and technicians, so they are no longer a novice at the technical level.

Regarding this point, Burley is actually not lying. What he said is objective. But even if he earns less, it is only in relative terms. After all, East Africa is not a third world. As one of the top ten industrial countries in the world, it is also It has bargaining power, so as a buyer, East Africa’s bargaining power is pretty good.

Burley continued: "And you businessmen who buy East African agricultural products are the most enviable in my opinion. The prices of agricultural products in East Africa have been falling in the past few years! You can make more than before just by going back and forth." There are so many people, it’s so annoying.”

Although it is only the upgrading of industries in the central and eastern parts of the country, the profits are already a huge number for European and American businessmen. As for how to get orders from East Africa, it is natural for each country to show its magic, and Burley's company is The winner of this round of competition.

In addition, East Africa also has strategic considerations. Lowering the export price of agricultural products can also further suppress East African competitors such as Brazil, Southeast Asia, and India. Therefore, when the advantages outweigh the disadvantages, East Africa will naturally do this.

"No, in fact, in the past three months of negotiations with East African manufacturers, I almost lost my temper. The other party was too difficult to deal with. Not only did they not offer high prices, but they were also critical of our company's products. If you understand the hard work, You probably won’t envy me.”

As for what Burley said, Cross did not deny that the price of agricultural products in East Africa has fallen in recent years, which is naturally a good thing for traders like him.

Although France is an agricultural powerhouse in Europe, and even farmers have high incomes, this is limited to the cultivation of food crops and a small number of cash crops. Other agricultural products mainly rely on imports.

This time, East Africa will eliminate backward industries and upgrade industries in the central and eastern regions. Naturally, it will not follow the same path as last time.

In addition, this industrial upgrade is limited to the central and eastern regions, so the East African government is still capable of doing it.

As an agricultural country, the East African government's main source of income is still agriculture. In recent years, the scale of planting various agricultural products in East Africa has been expanding. In addition, East Africa urgently needs funds from agriculture to develop industry. Therefore, the East African government has given a large amount of money to the sale of agricultural products. Discounts for various countries.

East Africa, a major producer of cash crops, can naturally form a certain degree of complementarity with France. As for the colonies opened by France, although they are large in scale, they will take time to develop and cannot replace East Africa, the world's largest tropical cash crop power.

In previous generations, the population explosion in African countries basically happened after the mid-to-late twentieth century. Increased productivity levels can indeed bring about population growth, but now Western colonists have not yet come to improve the productivity level of West Africa. The specific effect is at least It will take twenty years for this to become apparent.

Although Burley was complaining, it could be seen from his expression that this boy had made a lot of money this time, and the corners of his mouth were almost raised to the sky.

After all, West Africa has long been the main location for the slave trade. At least 70 million of the 100 million people lost in Africa during the slave trade were lost from West Africa.

With high demands and unwillingness to spend more, it is naturally unlikely that such a good thing will happen to East Africa. However, the difference from more than ten years ago is that the size of East Africa's economy is now much larger than before, and the government's fiscal revenue has naturally risen linearly. Agricultural development alone has nearly tripled East Africa's fiscal revenue.

For example, Portugal's Weida colony is firmly located between the British and German colonies. According to the original history, it should have been occupied by the French as early as the year before last (1894).

Of course, East Africa will not lose money and make money. With the transformation of agricultural cultivation, tropical cash crops are now the leading products of East Africa's agricultural exports, such as tea, rubber, cotton, etc.

Moreover, education and industry in East Africa had not yet taken shape at that time, and there was a lack of relevant talents. This led to many "problems" with many of the machines introduced. Simply put, many people were deceived or "cheated".

But today, more than ten years later, there are not such good opportunities. In addition, the East African government has recently spent a lot of money on the construction of various projects, so it is relatively hesitant to spend money on the introduction of equipment and technology.

Of course, there is another reason that cannot be ignored, that is, this time East Africa is not as wealthy as it was in the 1970s. In the 1970s, due to the economic crisis, European and American industrial products were unsaleable, so prices were low, and Ernst was well prepared. , so it is more atmospheric when introduced into industry.

In fact, after losing Angola and Portugal, Portugal attached unprecedented importance to the Weida colony. Instead of losing this colony, it expanded its area several times and eventually annexed the Kingdom of Dahomey (today's southern Benin). .

Of course, Portugal's success cannot be separated from the support of the British. After all, during the South African War, Portugal lost miserably with the British, so it may not be without the intention of compensating Portugal. Anyway, after the South African War, Portugal has become the most loyal to the British. Little brother.