Chapter 1426 Aluminum City
May 2, 1925.
Shindai City.
With decades of development, this former Portuguese colonial outpost in Mozambique located on the Zambezi River Delta has become an emerging city on the eastern coast of East Africa.
The most famous industry in Shindai City is electrolytic aluminum. It is the "Aluminum Capital" of East Africa. Focusing on electrolytic aluminum, the core industry, the industrial development of Shindai City has made rapid progress in recent years.
As a basic metal with a relatively late industrial production and a high development threshold, aluminum has a very broad market prospect, which makes the economic development of Xindai City very resilient.
Although as early as 1839, German chemist Eero von Raoult had successfully extracted aluminum from bauxite through hydrogen reduction, the cost of extracting aluminum by this method was too high and it was difficult to promote it on a large scale.
It was not until the end of the 19th century that the large-scale industrial production of aluminum became possible with the emergence of electrolytic aluminum technology. However, at that time, electrolytic aluminum technology faced a huge problem, which was the huge demand for electricity.
In the last century, electricity was undoubtedly a relatively scarce resource. Only the industrial countries at that time, or countries like East Africa that were willing to invest large amounts of financial, material and technical resources, had the foundation to develop the electrolytic aluminum industry.
East Africa in the 19th century was obviously not an industrial country, but rather a semi-industrial country similar to Russia.
However, East Africa already had the conditions to develop the electrolytic aluminum industry at that time. On the one hand, East Africa's electric power industry was relatively developed at that time. At the same time, only the United States and Germany could be compared with it, so East Africa had redundant electricity to develop the electrolytic aluminum industry.
On the other hand, the East African government has strongly supported the electrolytic aluminum industry with its policies. By the end of the 19th century, East Africa had cultivated and accumulated a considerable number of technical talents, which solved the most fundamental technical talent needs for the development of the electrolytic aluminum industry.
The reason why the latter is emphasized is that in the 19th century, electrolytic aluminum itself was a very cutting-edge technology and countries around the world were still in the exploratory stage.
This also meant that the scientific researchers and engineers in East Africa at that time had nothing to copy in this field and needed more independent innovation.
East Africa’s efforts were not in vain. In 1924, the aluminum production of Hindai City reached more than 40,000 tons, ranking first in the world.
According to East African tradition, there is obviously not only one aluminum industrial center, namely the city of Shindai. If there is one on the east coast, the west coast will certainly build a backup as long as conditions permit. In addition, similar industries will be arranged in other suitable areas based on resources, transportation and other conditions.
For example, the city of Maputo in southern East Africa and the city of Soyo at the mouth of the Congo River both have aluminum smelting industries. In 1924, East Africa's aluminum production accounted for at least 60% of the world's total.
Xindai Municipal Government.
Mayor Li Sen is holding a mobilization meeting for dozens of aluminum plants or related enterprises in the city, or issuing political tasks, to seek further increases in production.
He sat in a black armchair in front of the conference table, clenched his fist, and tapped the tabletop with the curled joint of his index finger for emphasis.
"This year is the last year of the 5th Five-Year Plan. We should seize this opportunity to increase the city's aluminum production to more than 50,000 tons before the end of this year."
"Now, although the development of Xindai City is becoming increasingly diversified and the economy has gotten rid of its past heavy reliance on the aluminum smelting industry, the change in industrial structure does not mean that the city has given up its attention to this industry."
"On the contrary, the government will not only continue to retain its original preferential policies for the industry, but will also continue to increase policy and financial investment in the future."
“Because no label can represent the image of our city of Xindai in the industrial field of the empire and even the world better than aluminum.”
"To a certain extent, our city of Xindai has developed because of this. Without the aluminum industry in Xindai, we might have been 20 years behind other cities in China."
Of course, according to Li Sen, if we put aside the industrial field, there are other representative labels that can be compared with it. For example, the label "Zambezi River Estuary" is quite influential in East Africa. After all, the Zambezi River is the only major river in the world whose entire basin belongs to East Africa.
This is equivalent to Shanghai at the mouth of the Yangtze River in the Far East Empire, Rotterdam at the mouth of the Rhine River in Europe, New Orleans at the mouth of the Mississippi River in the United States, and so on.
Although the main stream of the Congo River is entirely within East Africa and most of its tributaries also belong to East Africa, the Congo River basin is not exclusive to East Africa. The Belgian Autonomous Territory of Congo is also located in the Congo River basin.
Moreover, although the Congo River is the largest river in East Africa, in terms of economic attributes, it obviously cannot be compared with the Zambezi River.
However, compared with other major rivers in the world, the Zambezi River's actual influence and role on East Africa is not as great as imagined due to its poor navigability.
Li Sen went on to say: “The reason why we need to emphasize this point, in addition to the need for politics and influence, is also because in recent years, our city’s aluminum industry has been seriously competed with by Maputo and Soyo.”
"Soyo in particular has seen a rapid increase in aluminium production in recent years, and the gap between it and our city is now not that big. Its production may have exceeded 40,000 tonnes, while Maputo's aluminium production may also be close to 40,000 tonnes."
"In addition to these two cities, there are many other cities with related industries in East Africa, especially those coastal towns with strong economic strength, strong industrial base and sufficient electricity supply. They are all our potential opponents."
“So at this stage, that is, in 1925, the final year of the Fifth Five-Year Plan, our city’s total aluminum production must exceed 50,000 tons to ensure that it will not be stolen by Soyo or Maputo.”
Compared with the production of metals such as steel and copper, which can easily reach tens of thousands of tons, or even hundreds of thousands or millions of tons, currently around the world, a factory that can produce over a few hundred tons of aluminum is considered a relatively large factory, and one that exceeds ten thousand tons can be said to be a world-class top factory.
Therefore, the city of Shindai has become the "Aluminum Capital" of East Africa and even the world with its aluminum production of "only" more than 40,000 tons.
The main competitors of Shindai City are also domestic cities in East Africa, such as Soyo City, which is very similar to Shindai City.
Both are located at the estuaries of large rivers, Chende at the estuary of the Zambezi River and Soyo at the estuary of the Congo River. Both cities have the aluminum industry as their most representative industrial sector and are medium-sized emerging cities in East Africa.
Of course, from the perspective of comprehensive conditions, the current basic conditions in Xindai City are far superior to those in Soyo City.
For example, the city of Hinde has a longer development history than that of Soyo. Hinde is located on the fertile Zambezi Delta, with fertile surrounding land and far better agricultural development conditions than those of Soyo.
In addition, the shipping value of Xindai is much higher than that of Soyo, and it has a deeper economic hinterland, which leads to Xindai's freight business being more than that of Soyo.
Although the Zambezi River estuary is prone to siltation, which is not conducive to the development of shipping, this unfavorable condition is not insurmountable. On the other hand, the Congo River estuary where the city of Soyo is located, although the Congo River has a huge amount of water and a low sand content, not only is there no siltation at the estuary, but the Congo River has eroded a deep trench that extends into the Atlantic Ocean.
However, the Livingstone Falls between Soyo and Kinshasa make the lower reaches of the Congo River a "natural barrier". At least in the short term, East Africa has no way to transform the lower reaches of the Congo River.
Moreover, in addition to the differences in topography, the gap between the lower Congo River and the lower Zambezi River is also very obvious.
From the city of Chende, it is navigable along the Zambezi River westward to the city of Tete for nearly a thousand kilometers. Both sides of the river are fertile and vast plains with developed agriculture, relatively dense population and a large number of towns.
Upstream is the Tete Industrial Zone, which is relatively important in East Africa.
This means that Xindai City has no shortage of water-transported goods. Whether it is the export of agricultural products along the coast or the transportation of upstream industrial products and raw materials such as steel, Xindai City is the best option.
On the other hand, on both sides of the lower reaches of the Congo River, apart from Kinshasa, there are no other big cities, and even the number of villages and towns is very scarce.
This is because the two sides of the Congo River are tropical rainforest areas and lack the conditions for the development of agriculture, especially grain planting. Therefore, the population and number of towns are far less than those in the lower Zambezi area. If the middle and upper reaches of the two rivers are counted, the gap will be even greater.
Moreover, there is a rather fatal problem, that is, the complex river conditions in the lower reaches of the Congo River cause the West Coast Railway of East Africa to take a detour, that is to say, there is no railway passing through the lower reaches of the Congo River.
Instead, they chose to build a cross-river railway bridge in Kinshasa, at the junction of the middle and lower reaches. This made the west coast coastal railway recessed inward by nearly 500 kilometers. From Cabinda on the north side of the Congo River to Luanda in the south, if you only take rail and road, you must choose Kinshasa for transfer, forming a triangle area in the middle.
As for the downstream, there are also some sections of the river that can be passed by ferry, such as Soyo at the mouth of the river. From Soyo to Moanda on the other side of the river, ferries are relied on.
Of course, Soyo is not without advantages in developing the electrolytic aluminum industry, such as convenient sea transportation, direct railways and roads to Luanda and other areas on the north bank of the Congo River, and the Livingstone Falls upstream are not completely without value.
In the future, as East Africa advances in technology, it may be possible to utilize the powerful local hydropower resources to supply huge amounts of electricity to surrounding areas.
The East African government took into account the strong hydropower potential in the lower reaches of the Congo River, so it made early arrangements and established an electrolytic aluminum industry with extremely high electricity consumption in Soyo.
However, it will take many years for East Africa to conquer the Livingstone Falls and transform them into economic benefits. Therefore, in the short term, the economy of Soyo City will never surpass that of Hinde City on the east coast.
However, the economy is the economy and industry is industry. The economy of Soyo City does not pose a threat to Xindai, but the electrolytic aluminum industry has posed a real threat to Xindai City.
Therefore, Li Sen emphasized: "We and Soyo are the two major aluminum smelting centers on the east and west coasts respectively, but we have a huge disadvantage, that is, on the east coast, there is Maputo that can pose a threat to us."
"The development of the aluminum industry in Maputo in recent years has divided some of our markets in the south, which has had a certain impact on us."
"Therefore, in addition to pursuing an increase in production, the companies in Xindai need to strengthen the expansion and consolidation of the aluminum demand market, especially the development of overseas markets. Given the relatively fierce competition among domestic companies, overseas markets are actually a better choice."
In fact, the demand for aluminum is huge all over the world, or even in East Africa itself. As far as East Africa is concerned, the automobile, home appliances, electronic equipment, aircraft manufacturing and other industries all have a strong demand for aluminum metal. Conversely, the current world aluminum production is far from meeting the demand.
This is also the reason why the aluminum industry was said to be a blue ocean before. Of course, what Li Sen said also makes sense.
Although domestic demand in East Africa is strong and there is no problem of overcapacity, aluminum exports will undoubtedly bring more benefits to the city of Shindai.
After all, there are very few countries in the world that can produce aluminum, and the world's total aluminum production may be less than 200,000 tons.
There is no doubt that compared with East Africa, those countries that do not have the ability to produce aluminum will inevitably have to pay higher prices than East Africa if they want to import. After all, if they do not have the ability to produce it themselves, they are destined to be controlled by others.
Of course, one thing is worth noting, that is, although the international aluminum price is much higher than that in East Africa, the demand is also small. After all, many backward countries do not need too much aluminum at all.
For example, in the aircraft manufacturing industry mentioned earlier, aluminum is an important basic material for manufacturing aircraft bodies, but there are only a handful of countries in the world that have aviation industries.
Therefore, Li Sen reminded the company staff: "If you want to expand overseas markets, it is definitely not feasible to rely solely on upstream companies. What is more important is the vigorous development of downstream industries, and our Xindai City has a large number of downstream aluminum industries."
"Including aluminum processing, furniture manufacturing, containers, alloys, producing parts for other companies, etc., producing more end products and expanding the scope of aluminum use will undoubtedly incubate and cultivate more emerging high-quality companies."
"The reason why Xindai City has been able to develop from a single aluminum smelter to the fastest growing city today is that the aluminum industry chain has been improved and related factories and enterprises have been continuously established, thus providing new growth points for the city's development."
"So, this style should continue, unless one day the aluminum industry develops to the same level as the steel industry today."
The overcapacity problem faced by the steel industry in recent years has been plaguing many countries. Compared with this, the aluminum industry still has a long way to go if it wants to develop to the current level of the steel industry.
At least in recent decades, there is no sign of decline, which means that even if Xindai City clings to this industry, it does not need to worry too much about the city's economic development stagnating in the next few decades.
What's more, as Li Sen said, Xindai City has long gotten rid of the situation of a single industrial structure. In recent years, other industries in Xindai City have also developed rapidly, and these are largely brought about by the advantageous condition of the Zambezi River estuary.
(End of this chapter)
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