Chapter Fifteen Exhibition Indicators

  Fu Zhenbang was frugal with money, so the call lasted a very short time. Fu Zhenbang briefly explained and mentioned the name of the fertilizer before hanging up, the entire call didn't last two minutes.

  In such a short time, the telephone operator didn't find it strange or dissatisfied. They had already gotten used to it. Nowadays, most people don't make phone calls, but write letters instead. Writing letters is cheaper and can contain more content.

  After finishing the call, Fu Zhenbang felt at ease and took Fu Xin to the waiting room. Now what was needed was to quietly wait for boarding and await the next leg of their journey.

  ……

  The work of the previous station is not to go directly to the organizing committee of the conference, but to find the Wuxi Jiangsu Provincial Department of Commerce that has already been arranged to meet, and this participation in the Canton Fair is something to be negotiated with them.

  Fu Zhenbang is the deputy director of Hongxing Fertilizer Plant, and in terms of administrative establishment, he is also a deputy department-level cadre. Therefore, the conversation between father and son went straight to the top.

  The person who received Feng Zhenbang and his son was a deputy director of the Department of Commerce of Xijiang Province, named Liu Zihui, a woman in her 40s. She is a formidable figure, young and female, yet holding this powerful position.

  However, this time, Fu Zhenbang and his son were not in an adversarial relationship with her, so it didn't matter if she was fierce or not. In fact, the fiercer the better, maybe they could even find a good exhibition spot for the factory.

  "Welcome, welcome, Director Fu, welcome, please come in." After Fu Zhenbang knocked on Liu Zihui's door, Liu Zihui came out to greet him.

  "You're too kind, Director Liu." Fu Zhenbang had met this Liu Zihui before, so when they met again, he didn't appear to be overly formal.

  "Oh... who's this?" After Piao Zhenbang stepped into the room, Liu Zihui only then noticed Pei Xin following behind him and asked in puzzlement.

  "Oh, it's Dogzi, come out and help me with something." Fu Zhenbang didn't explain much, the more he explained, the more misunderstandings there would be.

  "Oh! Little brother, you come in too." Liu Zihui responded with a sentence, indicating that she understood. This is to bring her son for gilding, but she didn't say much either, so she invited Fu Xin to come in.

  It is unknown why Liu Zihui's room had only her in it, and her secretary was not seen, so the tea was personally served by Liu Zihui to Fu Zhenbang and his son.

  "Alright, let's get down to business." Liu Zihui said directly, "Director Fu, the report your factory submitted for export and foreign exchange earnings has been discussed by our department. We have also solicited opinions from other departments and learned about this compound fertilizer you mentioned. Everyone thinks it's a good project, so we are very supportive and encouraging."

  However, the request from your factory to participate in the Canton Fair this spring has not been coordinated by the relevant department. To put it simply, our province's chemical products have never had a good export situation, so our Department of Commerce did not get an exhibition quota from the organizing committee, but was only allowed to send a few products, which will be uniformly arranged for display by the organizing committee.

  This matter, actually Fu Zhenbang and others had long been clear in their minds, Hongxing Fertilizer Factory is one of the largest fertilizer factories in the province, this year is also the first time to participate in this Guangzhou Fair, it can be imagined that other factories are not much better.

  "Alright, unifying the group is also an option." Although he had mentally prepared himself, Fu Zhenbang still felt unwilling. Now that he heard this news, he felt somewhat disheartened.

  "Hmm, don't be discouraged, if you can earn $500,000 in foreign exchange this time, the Autumn Trade Fair will definitely give you a separate booth. The hall has confidence in your products!" Liu Zihui encouraged.

  She wasn't just speaking officially, but from the heart. This time, the Hongxing Fertilizer Factory has developed a new type of compound fertilizer through technological innovation, which has been highly praised by several units in the province. Not to mention anything else, this is China's first independently researched and developed compound fertilizer, and the fame it has brought at this trade fair is enough for them to achieve political success.

  This time, Fu Zhenbang had an appointment with the number one big shot in the province. He heard that Hongxing Fertilizer Factory was going to participate in the Guangzhou Fair with its compound fertilizer, and the provincial No. 1 directly made a written instruction, coordinating it and trying to let Hongxing Fertilizer Factory participate in the exhibition.

  Although it is said to be as much as possible, this is just an official language, and in fact, it must be done. Several departments in the province held a meeting to discuss and allocate a unified group booth from other less popular exhibition places. Let Hongxing Fertilizer Factory try first, after all, there was no precedent before, and it's better to be safe.

  "Hmm." Upon hearing this news, Fu Zhenbang's gloomy mood improved a lot. Yes, the province is doing this to be on the safe side.

  Before Fu Zhenbang and Liu Zihui could speak, they heard a new voice beside them.

  "Five hundred thousand?" Fu Xin said disdainfully.

  "What, you're not satisfied?" Liu Zihui had always thought that Fu Xin was brought out by Fu Zhenbang to show off his wealth, so he thought that Fu Xin only had a share of listening in. Now seeing Fu Xin not only speaking up but also with this tone, she felt the need to give Fu Xin a lesson on foreign trade, teaching this ignorant young man who didn't know his place.

  Fu Zhenbang stood by silently, his face gloomy as he stared at Fu Xin, allowing Liu Zihui to continue speaking.

  Due to the calm and expressionless faces of the officials, Liu Zihui calmly said: "Younger brother, your chemical industry is not comparable to some departments in the Ministry of Geology. They export tungsten sand and copper ore every year, earning nearly $10 million in foreign exchange. But they are just exceptions. Take our most famous ceramics as an example, the annual export earnings are only a few million dollars.

  So don't think $500,000 is a small amount. To be honest, with such a high quota, we are already being considerate of the Red Star Fertilizer Plant.

  "Of course, except for rare earths. Oh, right! You might not know what rare earths are, those dull and unremarkable things that look like soil but cost a lot, with one ton of rare earths costing $4,000 to $5,000 USD, bringing in a significant amount of foreign exchange for the province every year, making other provinces very envious! But this is just an exception."

  Hearing that a ton of rare earth is only worth four or five thousand dollars, Fu Xin's heart is bleeding! Fu Xin thought viciously to himself, if there was a rare earth mine under the commercial building, these people would probably push down the house and dig for rare earth to earn foreign exchange.

  But the new government soon realized that this was the situation of the whole country. All industries need to develop, but development lacks advanced equipment, and if they want to buy these equipment from abroad, they must have a large amount of foreign exchange.

  A large amount of foreign exchange comes from underground. There is no way, in those years, China's industrial manufactured goods were indeed lacking in export competitiveness, and to obtain foreign exchange, they could only rely on the export of primary products.

  In 1980, the national total import and export volume was $38.14 billion, with a total import value of $20.02 billion, leaving an export value of $18.12 billion.

  In this export volume, half of it comes from agricultural and mineral products. China's coal, oil, copper ore, tungsten sand, rare earths, etc., are all traditional foreign exchange earning goods. The export of oil alone is worth tens of billions of dollars a year.

  It seems that in order to develop now, we can only let this piece of land make sacrifices.

  Fu Xinrong suppressed the urge to share with Liu Zihui the knowledge of how to build a resource-saving and environmentally friendly society, and instead steered the conversation back on track. "Director Liu, we can't always rely on underground resources to earn foreign exchange, after all, what's underground is limited," he said. "The country should increase the proportion of industrial manufactured goods in exports. For example, this time our factory has developed a composite fertilizer that is very good. Can you coordinate and give me a separate booth?"

  "Is the decision above also something you can casually discuss? Besides, I warned you before you came, telling you to just listen and not interrupt. You're really showing no respect for your elders!" Piao Zhenbang scolded Piao Xin.

  Although Fu Xin was trying to gain benefits for the Hongxing Fertilizer Factory, Fu Zhenbang also thought that by doing so, he was being too casual and reckless in front of his superiors, discussing decisions made above him. This would not only offend his superiors but also be a mistake! Therefore, he couldn't help but scold Fu Xin.

  Fu Zhenbang still had the urge to scold his son, while Fu Xin's words made Liu Zihui, who was thinking on the side, stand up immediately and say: "Director Fu, don't rush to speak, I think Little Fu has some reason. The leaders upstairs have also realized this problem, but currently there is no way out. Except for traditional silk and porcelain, our industrial products are not welcome in foreign markets, so we can only do it this way for now."

  Liu Zihui said that, Fu Zhenbang was no longer angry and instead said very confidently: "Then can we have a separate booth? I believe our products will definitely shine at this trade fair and get many orders."

  "No way!" Liu Zihui shook his head and refused without hesitation, then explained: "Director Fu, we believe in you, otherwise we wouldn't have given you such a high target. Giving you such a high target is precisely because we think highly of you."

  "This time, we really can't help it. The booth indicators were almost all settled, and you suddenly asked to participate in the exhibition. We took care of you and coordinated with many parties to give you a unified group booth indicator. If you want a separate booth, we really can't do it, please don't make things difficult for us."

  The last sentence was a bit rude. Fu Zhenbang also figured it out and didn't ask for more, in case he lost the quota to participate in the exhibition, it would be a loss.

  The atmosphere was silent for a while, and then Liu Zihui suddenly asked: "By the way, Director Fu, how much did your Red Star Fertilizer Factory price the compound fertilizer that you took to exhibit at the export fair?"

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