African Entrepreneurship Records

  Chapter 174 Food Industry Independence

   January 13, 1869.

   Vienna.

  After the end of the year, Ernst immediately set off for Austria. It was still very cold in Austria in January, and the snow in Vienna looked special.

   Office of the Hechingen Consortium, Vienna.

  “It is about two miles away from the city of Vienna. The surrounding area is basically farmland, and due to terrain restrictions, the land is not very fertile, so the price is not high.

  The most rare thing is that there are few large open spaces around Vienna. The owner is Viscount Laxton of Austria. We have already negotiated the price with him. If we buy the whole piece, the price can be cheaper. Boone, the head of the Hechingen Consortium stationed in Vienna, pointed to a piece of land on the outskirts of Vienna on the map and was reporting the situation to Ernst.

   "How big is the area?" Ernst asked.

   "A total of 1.642 thousand mu, enough to build several factories, so there is absolutely no problem in terms of size." Boone said.

   "Well, how is the traffic condition?" Ernst asked.

   "It's less than 20 minutes away from the train station and the Danube River. If the road can be renovated, it will definitely be faster, so it's very convenient to collect and distribute supplies from here." Boone replied with all his treasures.

"Very well, go and discuss the price with Viscount Laxton! By the way, I would like to ask if the people in the surrounding area intend to sell the land, and try to make the land bigger. Of course, the premise is that the land is connected together." Ernst made a final decision. , basically declaring that the property rights of this piece of land fell into the hands of the royal family of Hechingen.

  In the new year, Ernst intends to separate food production from the daily necessities group under the Hechingen Consortium and form a specialized food group.

  Before, because the Hexingen Foundation controlled the food processing and manufacturing industry on a small scale, it was placed under the trusteeship of the Commodity Group.

  In 1869, after three years of development, the East African colony was no longer what it used to be, and could provide enough agricultural raw materials for the Hexingen Consortium.

  The most important thing is that in 1869, the East African immigration task was reduced, which could save a lot of surplus food for export.

  In the first three years, East Africa immigrated as much as possible, and the resettlement of new immigrants required food. In order to support the new immigrants, the rations needed by the early immigrants were jointly advanced by the East African colony and the Hexingen Consortium, which continued until the land was developed and harvested.

  Fortunately, the temperature in East Africa is the same throughout the year, and the immigrants can be put into production soon. However, in the dry season, immigrants will be prioritized near rivers and lakes.

  This year, East Africa no longer pursues the maximum number of immigrants, so that more food can be exported.

  Directly exporting grain is definitely not very profitable, especially now that the whole of Europe is singing and dancing, production is in order, and Britain, France, Russia, and OP are all focused on development.

  So in order to enhance the competitiveness of East African food, Ernst strives to establish a modern food enterprise group in Europe.

  Different from the past, this time Ernst placed the headquarters of the new company in the territory of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, implementing the Hechingen Consortium's development model of integrating Germany, Austria and Africa for the first time.

  Food is an important industry no less than the production of daily necessities. If it can develop, it will definitely be another heavyweight industry in the territory of the Hexingen Consortium.

  For the development of the food industry, the Hexingen Consortium has a natural advantage. It is backed by the East African colony, has sufficient raw materials, and is richer in funds this year. The funds used to expand immigration in the past can be invested in new industry investments.

  Combined with Austria's superior geographical location and stable social order, it has natural advantages to establish food companies in Austria.

Of course, the most important point is that it can better borrow the resources of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The Austro-Hungarian Empire itself is a big agricultural country. The wine raw materials of Hechingen Company are provided by the Austria-Hungarian Empire. Regional grain is sold throughout Europe through the supermarket system.

  The two sides have a natural basis for cooperation. Politically, the royal family of Hechingen has a close relationship with the Austrian royal family, and the right time, place and people are on Ernst's side.

   The above conditions are also available in the German region, but Austria has an advantage that Germany cannot match, that is, Austria is on the Mediterranean coast.

  Just wait for the opening of the Suez Canal at the end of the year, and the products of the East African colonies will be able to go all the way to Trieste through the Suez Canal. At that time, the Austro-Hungarian Empire will be the center connecting Germany and the East African colonies.

  In addition, the level of industrialization in Germany is high, as is the field of food processing. Relatively speaking, the Austro-Hungarian Empire has a large gap in this area, and the Hechingen Consortium just fills this gap and staggers the competition.

  And Ernst chose this time period to come to Vienna to arrange the construction of the food company, which can be said to be very delicate.

  It will take at least a few months from the land acquisition to the completion of the factory and put it into operation. This is only in the Vienna area, and the follow-up Trieste will definitely have to build a factory.

  Vienna can make full use of the agricultural resources of Austria and Hungary, while Trieste is just connected to the agricultural resources of East Africa.

  With both inside and outside, the ability to resist risks has been greatly improved. At the same time, the construction time of the Trieste factory is scheduled for the second half of the year, which coincides with the opening time of the Suez Canal.

  The Vienna factory will be built in the first half of the year, and the Trieste factory will be built in the second half.

   Ernst sat at the table and circled Hamburg, Berlin, Hechingen, Vienna, Trieste and other cities on the map with a red pencil.

  These cities and regions will become the fulcrum of Hechingen food companies in Europe, just taking into account the entire European region.

  The competition in the European food industry is definitely very fierce. In addition to Europe, there will also be competition from the colonies of overseas countries.

  So Ernst didn’t have much illusions about profits. Huge profits are definitely too possible, so it’s good to have a long flow, and the products in East Africa are mainly in large quantities, and the quantity is sufficient, and considerable income can also be obtained.

  At the same time, it can also pave the way for the future agricultural products in East Africa. The food output that two million people can provide is definitely considerable.

  After all, in this era, most countries still rely on agricultural taxes to support their finances. There is no agricultural tax in East Africa, but more than 90% of the profits of agricultural production are in the hands of the Hexingen consortium.

It’s just that in the first three years, the investment in the East African colonies was also very large, so the money obtained by the Hexingen Consortium was basically invested in the construction of East Africa, and in the first two years, the Hexingen Consortium was completely loss-making, subsidizing A lot of money to build East Africa, resulting in slow development of enterprises in Europe.

Moreover, the current population of East Africa is only close to 2 million. Only when the 2 million people carry out production activities at the same time can their agricultural profits be high. That is to say, only a few months later, East Africa can really produce 2 million people. Agricultural value, after all, agriculture is cyclical, and crops need time to grow.

  (end of this chapter)