Chapter 1074 Market and Contradiction
During the entire Second Five-Year Plan period, East Africa's national industrial output increased by 187%, while the First Five-Year Plan only increased by 103%. The results were significantly higher than the First Five-Year Plan. Such high growth is inconsistent with During the Second Five-Year Plan period, the comprehensive explosion of advantageous industries such as automobiles and electric power is closely related.
Especially the automobile, tractor and other industries, which have a very obvious driving effect on East African industry and have become the leading products of East African industrial exports.
Although East Africa was also a strong country in automobiles, tractors and other machinery in the past, its production and export scale was not large at that time. However, during the Second Five-Year Plan period, due to the development of related industries in the United States and Europe, East Africa began to increase the export scale of large machinery such as automobiles and tractors.
At this time, the cost of American automobile manufacturers has been reduced to less than one thousand US dollars per vehicle. Many automobile companies such as Ford and General Motors are developing rapidly, and the American automobile industry has begun to take shape.
So in order to cope with the competition from these emerging forces, East Africa has increased its dumping efforts in the international market, sending a "warmth" to the international automobile market.
The automobile industry alone had a huge impact on the national industry during the Second Five-Year Plan in East Africa. Automobiles are high value-added industrial products, which greatly increased the overall industrial output value of East Africa and also promoted the rapid development of related industries, such as bearings, engines, and rubber. , steel, alloys, petroleum, chemicals, etc.
In the previous life, the automobile industry was Japan's largest industry. The automobile industry accounted for about 10% of Japan's GDP and as high as 40% of its manufacturing industry. It is also a manufacturing powerhouse. In Germany, the automobile industry accounts for more than 50% of the manufacturing industry and about 9% of the gross national product.
From the importance of the automobile industry to Japan and Germany in the past, we can see that the automobile industry has a strong ability to drive the economy and industry. As the world's largest automobile producer, East Africa's automobile industry has a very significant driving effect on its own economy.
This is clearly reflected in the export of East African industrial products during the Second Five-Year Plan period. Although the export of East African power equipment and products was already very good in the 1990s, countries such as the United States and Germany were still competitive. During the two Five-Year Plan periods, The East African automobile industry has completely formed a crushing advantage over the two countries.
To be honest, the automobile industry is the main reason why East Africa’s industrial growth rate was significantly higher than that of the First Five-Year Plan during the Second Five-Year Plan. Of course, East Africa’s development is not bad in other aspects.
Especially the production of civilian industrial products in East Africa has improved significantly compared with before. During the Second Five-Year Plan period, light industrial production has become a new growth point for East Africa's industrial growth. Although the export performance is not satisfactory, it meets most of the needs of the domestic market.
"As of the end of 1909, the scale of my country's industry was nearly three times that of 1900, and there were more than 13,000 newly registered large and medium-sized enterprises across the country. During the Second Five-Year Plan, light industry increased significantly, heavy industry continued to develop at a high speed, and agriculture made steady progress. "
During the two five-year plans alone, the number of East African enterprises exceeded the total number of East African construction enterprises in the entire 19th century, more than doubling. Although East Africa only had a few decades due to historical reasons, in the entire mid-to-late 19th century Only then did he have a place on the world stage.
During the Second Five-Year Plan, the development of heavy industry in East Africa still ranked first. The development of heavy industries such as steel, electricity, railways, energy, and mining made huge contributions, and the development of the chemical industry and automobile industry was particularly prominent.
The light industry has received more attention than during the First Five-Year Plan period, but the gap with other industrial countries is still significant. The reasons are still technology, market, production efficiency, etc.
Agriculture focuses on stable development. During the Second Five-Year Plan period, the increase in East Africa's agricultural exports was not large, and international prices continued to be depressed. However, due to improvements in technology and mechanization, and the protection of East Africa's domestic market, positive growth in agricultural output was barely achieved.
However, this is also expected by the East African government. Long before East Africa decided to vigorously develop industry, the East African government understood that there was no "future" by developing agriculture.
Especially after entering the 20th century, East Africa's population has grown significantly. Looking at the world, East Africa is no longer a country that has not been effectively developed. In the past few decades, the amount of construction projects in East Africa has been greater than that of the entire South America in the past century combined. Now, in the entire sub-Saharan region, East Africa can single-handedly compare its industrial and agricultural data with any other region in the world.
“Among the world’s major economies, East Africa’s economic growth rate remains in the first echelon in the world, with annual economic growth exceeding that of the United States and Germany, maintaining around 10%.”
Since 1890, the economy of East Africa has remained at a high level, followed by the United States, and then Germany. Of course, although the growth rate of the United States and Germany is not as fast as that of East Africa, their economic base is large, so the economic increment is greater than that of East Africa.
After 1900, frequent economic crises occurred in European and American countries, which further made East Africa's industrial growth rate stand out among the major powers. Especially last year, the U.S. economy and industry even declined to a certain extent, but the United States quickly adjusted.
The German economy has also been negatively affected to a certain extent. However, Germany has temporarily delayed its decline through investment in the military industry. However, this has also allowed Germany to move further on the road to military expansion.
The industries in East Africa, the United States, and Germany have developed the fastest in the past two decades, and other countries will only be worse. However, the three countries are all facing the same problem, that is the market. If they want to go further, in addition to their own factors, the market is The main limitation.
The industrial level of Britain, France and other countries obviously does not match the international market they occupy. This is also a contradiction between emerging industrial countries and traditional industrial countries.
Of course, the contradiction between France and Germany is the most prominent. It is not just market factors. At least for France, if it wants to go further on the European continent, it can only defeat Germany, a powerful enemy.
Except for those colonial powers, the international market shares of East Africa, the United States and Germany are quite unstable. Although the industrial development of the three countries has surpassed that of other countries, the market cannot be opened solely by the quality or cost advantages of their own industrial products.
For example, in the past, the trade between Britain and the Far Eastern Empire. Although the industrial development of the Far Eastern Empire was relatively backward, it could still overwhelm the British in international trade with its strong traditional handicraft industry. In fact, the same was true for India before it was colonized by the British. The Far Eastern Empire and India was the two most important centers of the pre-industrial world.
At that time, emerging countries such as Britain finally defeated this traditional power and relied on force to solve problems.
Judging from the development paths of Britain, France and other countries, if East Africa, the United States and Germany want to break the current international system and compete for the international market, they will ultimately have to resort to war.
It’s just that, like the United States, East Africa has much wider options than Germany, so the main force to subvert the old world order still depends on Germany.
Large countries like East Africa and the United States have a lot of resources to mobilize and a lot of room for maneuver. They can deal with Britain or France, which have huge colonies. However, Germany does not have such conditions. Germany has a small area and scarce resources for industrial development. , the population bears great pressure.
Therefore, Germany may still bet on the war route. If it chooses peaceful competition, Germany has the smallest chance of winning, because Germany has the fewest cards.
Of course, assuming that Germany chooses the latter, it may not have no advantages at all. Now that German industry has developed, coupled with its demographic advantage, if it penetrates economically into European countries, Germany's national power still has a lot of room for improvement, but after all, it is It is limited. After all, Britain, France, Austria, and Russia are all big countries, and other countries are not weak either, so this road is quite difficult.
(End of this chapter)