Material Empire

If China held such a forum to replace steel with plastic to show its position to Vale, then Qin Hai's statement just now is a blatant declaration of war.

The Chinese side showed its own technology of replacing steel with plastic, telling Vale that it can reduce its dependence on iron ore in this way. This does not pose a big threat to Vale. After all, they can still Find markets in other countries. However, the Chinese side is not satisfied with this. They have adopted the method of transferring relevant technologies to global manufacturers at low prices to promote the global process of replacing steel with plastic. If this move can be successful, it means that the global demand for steel will be affected, which will bring disaster to several major iron ore giants.

"No, the crazy behavior of the Chinese must be stopped!" Callum said eagerly to the two men. He didn't dare to wait any longer, the Chinese's approach was too crazy, it was like trying to fight Vale to the death.

"How to stop it? Are we going to admit defeat to the Chinese?" Jofts asked.

"No, not to admit defeat, but...to cooperate!" Callum found a good way to say it.

After Qin Hai finished his speech, he left the exhibition hall. Countless interested merchants rushed to each booth, where staff answered their questions and introduced various technical details, patent licensing fees and cooperation methods, etc. wait. More than half of the plastic-replacing-steel technologies exhibited this time came from the Anhe Institute of Materials, and some came from some domestic scientific research institutes and chemical companies. It took a lot of effort for the newly established Ministry of Commerce to persuade these institutions to participate Come to this activity.

"President Qin, Mr. Callum, the president of Vale, wants to talk to you."

A staff member walked into the lounge of the exhibition center and reported to Qin Haihui.

"Haha, finally someone can't sit still." Qin Hai smiled and said to Xia Yangjie and Zhou Dongyi beside him, "This time you can make Vale bow its head, and you are the first to do it."

Xia Yangjie and Zhou Dongyi are now the chief engineers of Jintang Chemical Base. Many of the plastic steel, glass fiber reinforced plastic and other products exhibited this time were developed by the scientific research team led by them. Without their support, Qin Hai really didn't dare to rashly launch a war with Vale.

"Mr. Qin has won the award. Without Mr. Qin's strategizing, what effect would the work we have done have?" Xia Yangjie replied modestly. Xia Yangjie was very happy that his own value could be fully reflected. His original research direction was the fiber winding problem in FRP. In recent years, thanks to the financial support of Daqin Group and the production capacity of Jintang Chemical Base, his research work has made some major breakthroughs. The strongest fiberglass is his work.

"Callum is here, Mr. Xia and I want to avoid it for a while?" Zhou Dongyi, who was sitting in a wheelchair, asked.

"No need." Qin Hai waved his hand, and then told the staff, "Please come in."

Callum walked in with Joefts and La Paz. When he saw Qin Hai, La Paz took two steps and stepped forward to introduce Qin Hai: "Mr. Qin, I'm glad we met again. , Let me introduce to you, this is Mr. Callum, the president of our group, and Mr. Jofts, the director of the strategy department of the group, they made a special trip to Pujiang to visit Mr. Qin."

"Nice to meet, nice to meet." Qin Hai smiled and shook hands with Callum and Joefts, beckoned them to sit down on the sofa, and then quietly waited for the other party to speak first. He would not believe the statement of a special visit. According to the news from the customs, Callum had already entered the country two days ago, and he only came to visit now, obviously because he was stimulated by the exhibition.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Qin, last time you went to Brazil to negotiate iron ore in person, I happened to be in Africa for inspection, so it's a pity that I couldn't meet you in Brazil." Callum came up with an apology , La Paz rolled his eyes. Why did you investigate in Africa? Your old man was obviously in Rio de Janeiro at the time, okay? You are the president of a big company, so you are not afraid of losing your reputation if you tell nonsense like this?

Naturally, Qin Hai would not believe Callum's nonsense. Even if the CEO is on a business trip in Africa, wouldn't the company be able to find a few people with more status than La Paz to participate in the negotiations? It is clear that Vale did not take China seriously at the time, and did not intend to conduct reciprocal negotiations with China. The truth has been the same throughout the ages. The only way to make your opponent value you is to let the opponent realize your strength. Weak countries have no diplomacy. This is the correct truth at all times.

Thinking this way in his heart, Qin Hai acted calmly on the surface, he said: "Yes, I am very sorry, I have always wanted to have the opportunity to pay a visit to Mr. Callum."

"Mr. Qin, I only heard about the iron ore negotiations after I returned to Brazil from Africa. After the first contact between us, I don't know why you didn't follow up. We have been waiting I am going to have further communication with you." Callum continued to pretend to be stupid.

Qin Haidao: "Oh, is that so? I'm really sorry, because we feel that the price of Vale's iron ore is beyond our tolerance, so we have to reluctantly give up. We are currently looking for other iron ore In addition, as you have just seen, we hope to reduce part of the demand for steel by substituting plastic for steel.”

Callum said: "As for the price of iron ore, we can discuss it again. Of course, we will fully consider the customer's ability to bear it."

"It seems that this is a misunderstanding." Qin Hai laughed, "I don't have much experience in the market, so I don't know that the price can be negotiated. Such a big misunderstanding."

"Uh...hehe, hehe, negotiation, of course everything can be negotiated." La Paz said embarrassingly, blushing and turning white. He knew that Qin Hai's words were just slapping him in the face, because in the last negotiation, he insisted that the price set by Vale was non-negotiable.

Jofts was also trying to smooth things over, saying, "This is indeed a misunderstanding. We made a special trip to Pujiang this time to negotiate with Mr. Qin on the price of iron ore, so as to set a tone for the resumption of negotiations."

Qin Haidao: "During the last negotiation, Mr. La Paz claimed to increase the price of iron ore by 70%. I wonder how Vale will decide to adjust it now."

"We are willing to give up the request for a 70% price increase and adjust it to only increase by 40%." Jofts said.

"Isn't this price a bit insincere?" Qin Hai commented with a faint smile. Since the other party has already agreed to lower the price, we can sit back and pay back the money. If you don't slaughter at this time, when will you wait?

"We have repeatedly considered this price. If the price increase is lower than this level, it will be difficult to alleviate our cost pressure." Jofts said.

Qin Hai shook his head and said: "Mr. Joefts, you are a sensible person, you should know that if the price of iron ore rises to this level, then our steel companies will inevitably lose money. There is not much room for improvement in steel prices. If the price of steel were higher, it would not be able to compete with plastic in the market."

"No, no, Mr. Qin, you should know that even if the price of steel is doubled, it is still much lower than the cost of plastic. Replacing steel with plastic is just a trend, and it cannot be completely replaced in the short term. Steel." Joefts said.

Qin Hai used to point to Xia Yangjie and Zhou Dongyi, and said: "Let me introduce to you, this is Mr. Xia Yangjie, the vice president and chief engineer of our Jintang Chemical Materials Group Company, and this is Mr. Zhou Dongyi, our deputy chief engineer. .Before you came in, they were introducing to me the development idea of ​​a new type of FRP. They planned to use carbon fiber as a reinforcing material and adopt the filament winding technology invented by Mr. Xia to make the strength of FRP reach the level of ordinary alloy steel, and at the same time lower the cost. If there is a basis, it will drop by 50%.”

"This...is it still quite difficult?" Jofts said hesitantly.

Xia Yangjie sneered and said: "It is only a matter of time before polymer materials replace metal materials. The theoretical research on super FRP has been completed, and the rest is just to explore the industrial production process. As long as our group can invest enough funds, my team will definitely be able to complete it within half a year." Once the design is completed, this fiberglass product can be launched by the beginning of next year at the latest."

"At that time, we will hold a new forum and promote this new technology to the world." Qin Hai just added a knife.

"Okay..." Callum sighed softly, changed to a gentle tone, and said to Qin Hai: "Mr. Qin, we don't need to go around in circles. You and I both know that we will spare no effort to promote plastic instead of steel. It is irrational for us Vale and you Daqin Iron and Steel Group. I think we should be able to find a solution that is beneficial to both parties and avoid this kind of suicidal competition."

"I agree with what Mr. Callum said." Qin Hai said, "Since this is the case, shouldn't Vale make some more sincere steps back?"

"We can get the price increase down to 30 percent," Callum said.

Qin Hai didn't bother to answer, just shook his head with a smile. It took me a long time to drop to 30%. Can this be worthy of the situation I have worked so hard to lay out?

"25%..." Callum had to ask again.

Qin Hai still shook his head.

Callum gritted his teeth, moved his head forward, and said in a voice just enough for Qin Hai to hear: "20%! This is our bottom line."

"We don't need to waste time." Qin Hai said, "If Mr. Callum wants to reach a cooperation with us, then this year's iron ore price must maintain last year's price and cannot rise."