Chapter 145 Tobacco Factory
While Zanzibar merchants were taking people and goods from East Africa, the Heixingen Consortium was also working hard to save on the cost of commodity production in order to obtain greater profits.
At the same time, it was also to ensure the safety and smooth flow of raw material channels. Before the establishment of the East African colonies, tobacco cultivation around the world was basically monopolized by a few overseas colonial countries, and the East African colonies just happened to solve this problem.
Of course, the Heixingen Group is not facing the dilemma of being strangled now. Many powerful countries coexist in the world now, and no country can dominate the world.
When purchasing tobacco, the Heixinggen Group can even compare prices from three different suppliers and choose products that satisfy them.
Especially after the development of the East African colonies, the area of tobacco cultivation has become increasingly larger in the past two years, and the Heixingen Consortium has become less worried.
The cost of growing tobacco in the colonies was very low, and in the end all it had to do was pull it back to Europe by ship, and the immigrant ships could easily deal with it when they returned.
Of course, Ernst himself doesn’t know exactly how many kinds of industrial products the Hechingen Consortium has, but it basically involves all products that are closely related to the lives of Germans.
The raw materials needed for so many products are bound to be diverse and in huge demand.
Fortunately, the industrial scale of this era is completely incomparable to that of Ernst's previous life, and the people's consumption capacity is also completely incomparable, so many raw materials can be provided by Europe alone.
The coal in the Ruhr area is a classic example, providing abundant and cheap energy for the future rise of German industry. Coal is one of the important indicators of the First Industrial Revolution.
The East African colonies are responsible for the supply of raw materials, but the largest import from East Africa to Germany is not minerals, but timber and some specialties.
When the immigrant ship returned, it carried a large amount of wood and agricultural products, which naturally did not attract much attention.
Part of this wood was kept by the Heixingen Consortium for its own use, to make handles for razors and other tools, or some furniture, and the rest was all sold cheaply. There was no shortage of wood in Europe, so it was basically impossible to get a high price by selling logs.
Although I couldn't make much money from selling wood, I saved a lot of money on buying wood. When I was selling, those unscrupulous merchants kept saying this was not good and that was not good. When I was buying, they kept bragging and even talked about reduced production.
This was the colonial era, and the whole world was the backyard of Europe and the United States. Timber was basically available everywhere except in deserts and glaciers. How dare you talk about a reduction in production?
However, when the Heixinggen Group itself became a timber supplier, they felt slapped in the face as harshly as they had criticized those unscrupulous businessmen in the past, and eventually became the person they hated.
East African specialty agricultural products are the most profitable commodities in East Africa, such as cloves, sisal, and various specialty fruits and vegetables...
August 11, 1868.
Mbeya.
Today is a sunny day with a gentle breeze, and workers are constructing a new building in the city.
Under the guidance of German engineers, the engineering team formed by the immigrants completed the task meticulously.
East Africa currently has a team of professional construction workers who are working hard at every construction site in East Africa. They are indispensable in roads, bridges and special-purpose buildings. Construction workers are considered the main force of the current East African worker group.
The new building in the city of Mbeya is obviously a European-style factory building. The reserved ventilation holes and chimneys indicate that steam-powered equipment will be installed here.
According to the schedule, the machines should have landed now, and within a month, they will be delivered, assembled and put into production. Once the machines are in place, this factory will be the first industrial cigarette factory in East Africa.
When the East African colony was first established, it had a clear goal: to provide raw materials to the Hexingen Consortium.
As the tobacco industry was a highly profitable industry in the hands of the Hechingen Consortium, it naturally attracted Ernst's attention. At that time, the purpose of opening up the East African colony was to supply raw materials for the Hechingen Tobacco Company.
When the first town was established in the East African colony, the colony tried to grow tobacco and later gradually expanded inland.
Many areas in the East African colonies were suitable for tobacco growing, especially those around lakes, with the coast of Lake Malawi being an important producing area.
Mbeya is the capital of the Upper Lake Malawi region. 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 the tobacco and then bringing it back to Germany for processing and sale, it is definitely not as cost-effective as producing the product in East Africa and then selling it abroad.
The transportation price of tobacco and finished cigarettes is there. The volume of tobacco of the same weight is much larger than that of finished products. The more you transport, the more you lose. For businessmen, less profit means loss.
Mbeya, as one of the tobacco-growing areas, is rich in raw materials and has sufficient coal resources, which can provide a steady supply of power for factory production.
Transporting the finished products was also very simple. Cigarettes were a highly profitable product, and the weight of a truckload was just that little, not enough. Mbeya was going to transport coal to various East African colonies, so transportation was not a problem at all.
Moreover, after the cigarettes are produced locally in East Africa, they can be directly supplied to local immigrants in East Africa, thereby increasing the meager wages of many people.
At the same time, it can directly supply Zanzibar and Arab merchants, taking the opportunity to expand the market around the Indian Ocean and establish the reputation of Heixingen tobacco.
Opening up markets around the Indian Ocean and even the Southeast Asian market is an irresistible temptation for any businessman.
In the colonies, labor is much cheaper than in Germany, and the country is self-sufficient in raw materials, so there is basically no cost.
The Hechingen Tobacco Factory in Germany will continue to purchase tobacco from tobacco merchants in other countries. If you eat alone, you may be easily beaten up, so it is better to be cautious.
Moreover, the development time of the East African colonies is too short. We can only say that they have great potential. It is indeed unrealistic to think that they can satisfy Germany and Europe with their tobacco supply.
Therefore, taking all factors into consideration, we cannot ruin the relationship with some partners, especially now that the German presence on the ocean is completely zero.
Even the Hechingen Consortium itself was the largest maritime trader in the German region. The Prussian Navy could only operate in the Baltic Sea, and the Austro-Hungarian Navy was only active in the Mediterranean region.
Except for the above two regions, the four oceans are all in the hands of Britain, France, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain, so the merchant ships in Ernst's hands cannot be damaged.
Not to mention these maritime powers, even some countries in the Arab region have relatively strong maritime power in the Indian Ocean, so the East African colonies must continue to keep a low profile.
(End of this chapter)
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