Chapter 145 Tobacco Factory
While Zanzibar businessmen are taking people and goods from East Africa, the Hexingen consortium is also working hard to save the cost of commodity production so as to obtain greater profits.
At the same time, it is also to ensure the safety and smoothness of raw material channels. Before the establishment of the East African colony, tobacco cultivation in the world was basically monopolized by those overseas colonial countries. The East African colony can just solve this problem.
Of course, the Heixingen Consortium has not encountered the dilemma of being stuck. In the current world, all powers coexist, and no country can be the champion.
When purchasing tobacco, the Heixingen consortium can even shop around and choose the products they are satisfied with.
Especially after the development of the East African colony, in the past two years, the tobacco planting area has become wider and wider, and the Hexingen Consortium is even less worried.
The cost of tobacco planting in the colonies is very low. In the end, it is enough to use a ship to pull it back to Europe, and when the immigrant ship returns, it can be solved easily.
Of course, Ernst himself doesn’t know how many kinds of industrial products the Hechingen Consortium has. Basically, they are involved in products that are closely related to the lives of Germans.
The raw materials required by so many products are destined to be diverse and in huge demand.
Fortunately, the industrial scale of this era is completely incomparable with Ernst's previous life, and the consumption power of the people is also completely incomparable, so many raw materials can be provided only by Europe.
Coal in the Ruhr area is a classic example. It provides abundant and cheap energy for the rise of German industry in the future. Coal is one of the important indicators of the first industrial revolution.
East African colonies are shouldering the heavy responsibility of raw material supply, but what East Africa currently imports most to Germany is not minerals, but timber and some special products.
When the immigrant ship returned, it brought back a large amount of wood and agricultural products, which naturally attracted little attention.
Some of these woods were left by the Heixingen Consortium for their own use, and they were used to make handles for razors and other utensils, or some furniture. impossible.
Although I can't make a lot of money by selling wood myself, I saved a lot of money for buying wood. Let's talk about production cuts.
This is the colonial era, the whole world is the backyard of Europe and the United States, and wood is basically found everywhere except deserts and ice fields. How dare you say that production is reduced?
However, when the Heixingen Consortium itself became a timber supplier, how harshly they scolded those profiteers before, they slapped them in the face now, and finally lived a life that they hated.
East African specialty agricultural products are the most profitable commodities in East Africa, such as cloves, sisal, and various special fruits and vegetables...
August 11, 1868.
Mbeya.
Today is sunny and breezy, and workers are constructing a new building downtown.
Under the guidance of German engineers, the engineering team formed by the immigrants completed the task meticulously.
The new building in the urban area of Mbeya is obviously a European-style factory building. The reserved vents and chimney openings indicate that equipment driven by steam engines will be installed here.
According to the time, the machine should have landed now, and within a month, it will be delivered, assembled and put into production. As long as the machinery is in place, this factory will be the first industrial cigarette factory in East Africa.
The East African colony had a clear goal when it was first established, to provide raw materials for the Hexingen Consortium.
The tobacco industry, as a profiteering industry in the hands of the Hexingen consortium, naturally attracted Ernst's attention. At that time, the purpose of opening up the East African colony was to supply raw materials for the Hexingen Tobacco Company.
When the first town was opened in the East African colony, the colony tried to grow tobacco, and then gradually expanded inland.
Many places in the East African colony are suitable for tobacco cultivation, especially around those lakes, among which the coast of Lake Malawi is an important production area.
Mbeya is the capital of the Upper Lake Malawi region, and the northern part of Lake Malawi is under the jurisdiction of Mbeya, so Mbeya is very close to the tobacco growing area.
Compared to harvesting and processing the tobacco, then pulling it back to Germany, and selling it after processing, it is definitely not as cheap as getting the product in place in East Africa in one step, and then selling it to the outside world.
The transportation prices of tobacco and finished cigarettes are placed there. The volume of tobacco of the same weight is far greater than that of finished products. The more you pull, the more you will lose.
Mbeya, as one of the tobacco growing areas, is rich in raw materials and has sufficient coal resources, which can provide a steady stream of power for factory production.
It is also very simple to transport the finished product. Cigarettes are a profiteering product, and the weight of a truck is only so small, which is not enough. You must know that Mbeya is going to transport coal samples to the East African colonies, so transportation is not even a problem. question.
And after cigarettes are produced locally in East Africa, they can be directly supplied to local immigrants in East Africa, blowing up the meager wages of many people.
At the same time, it can directly supply Zanzibar and Arab merchants, take the opportunity to expand the market around the Indian Ocean, and start the reputation of Hexingen tobacco.
Opening up markets around the Indian Ocean, or even the Southeast Asian market is an irresistible temptation for any businessman.
In the colonies, labor is much cheaper than in Germany, and with self-sufficiency in raw materials, there is basically no cost.
The Hechingen Tobacco Factory in Germany will continue to purchase tobacco from tobacco merchants in other countries. Eating alone is easy to be beaten by groups, so it is better to be cautious.
Moreover, the development time of the East African colony is too short, so it can only be said that it has full potential. It is really unrealistic to think about being satisfied with the tobacco supply of Germany and Europe.
Thinking about it comprehensively, we can't ruin the relationship with some partners, especially now, the presence of Germans on the ocean is completely equal to zero.
Even the Hechingen Consortium itself is the largest maritime trader in the German region. The Prussian Navy can only jump in the Baltic Sea, and the Austro-Hungarian Navy is only active in the Mediterranean region.
Except for the above two areas, the four oceans are all in the hands of countries such as Britain, France, Holland and Portugal, and the merchant ships in Ernst's hands cannot be touched.
Not to mention these maritime powers, even some countries in the Arab region are relatively powerful in the Indian Ocean. Therefore, the East African colonies should continue to keep a low profile.
(end of this chapter)