Chapter 34: The price that can be afforded

This kid is very cunning, very cunning! Such an idea flashed through Toshi Iwasaki's mind.

No wonder Fan Wubing was able to create such a huge wealth as such a young man. He was indeed a teenage genius. Iwasaki Toshi now understood a little. Fan Wubing might not be like the kind of person who could make things happen on the surface by relying on the background behind him. If he looked at him from this perspective, it would probably seriously affect his huge plan.

A reasonable price is nothing more than referring to the current international rare earth mineral prices. However, if that is the case, Japan, which relies entirely on imports, could not afford such a price. Moreover, after China suddenly closed the door to export rare earth minerals, the rare earth prices in the international market were already ready to move, and countless speculators have already rushed in. Although some people have suppressed the market, it cannot last long. It can be imagined that once the international market's rare earth prices suddenly strengthen, the possibility of Mitsubishi getting cheap rare earth minerals from China will be even more slim.

But how could Fan Wubing not see this? Iwasaki Shun suddenly felt a headache. He had never encountered such a complex and arduous situation. If the rare earth incident is not handled well this time, the Mitsubishi chaebol will be hit very heavily.

How can we convince Fan Wubing to obtain acceptable rare earth resources at prices? Iwasaki Toshi patted his head and looked at Fan Wubing and said, "Fan Sang, suddenly raising the rare earth price is a heavy blow to the entire rare earth trading market, and it is easy to cause some unripe variables. I hope you can seriously consider this matter and make a decision that both of us can accept."

In fact, Iwasaki Shun was really troubled this time. Japan is a country with shortage of resources. The people have a strong sense of crisis. Japan has implemented a reserve system for all important materials. The current strategic reserve system for rare minerals was introduced in 1983. The reserve targets are seven rare metals such as nickel, chromium, tungsten, cobalt, molybdenum, vanadium, and manganese.

Due to the development needs in recent years, they have recently added three resources, platinum, indium and rare earths, as strategic reserves, which are all urgently needed by Japan's top automobile, electronics, information and other industries. Platinum is used in automobile exhaust emission purification devices, fuel cell manufacturing, indium is used in LCD panels of LCD TVs, and rare earths are indispensable materials for hybrid vehicles.

In the international competition among these industries, Japanese companies are in an advantageous position. Once resource supply interruption occurs, it will seriously damage Japan's economic and national security.

The Mitsubishi chaebol of Iwasaki is the first to be hit. For example, the missile defense project jointly carried out with the United States involved in Mitsubishi Heavy Industries requires a large amount of indium metal to make high-sensitivity seekers, and they are actively seeking to introduce and produce long-range detection radars and stealth canopies of the US-made F-series stealth fighters that both require indium as raw materials.

Currently, Japan's rare metal reserve system is divided into two types: national reserves and private reserves.

National reserves are to ensure long-term supply and deal with possible emergencies, while private reserves are necessary supplements to prevent problems in short-term supply. The reserve targets of these two types of reserves are domestic consumption of 60 days, of which national reserves account for 42 days and private reserves account for 18 days.

A large amount of rare metal reserves require huge funds. To this end, Japan has established special reserve funds through various means and has used a national budget of about 60 billion yen for the import of rare metals. The Japanese government also encourages domestic enterprises to invest in mineral resources overseas on a large scale. When Japanese enterprises are mining overseas, they make loans from their central banks and the Export-Import Bank of China, the metal mining business group comes forward to serve as guarantors and only charges 4/1000 guarantee fees.

In addition, in recent years, Japan has bought scrapped Russian MiG aircraft from Eastern European countries in the name of imported scrap metals. The main purpose is to extract rare metal materials such as titanium, indium, iridium, zirconium, cesium, lithium, and tungsten.

In China, indium metal is almost sold as waste. After seeing it, Iwakitsu felt worried. It was a waste of resources to make this kind of thing casually. If you get it to Japan, how much profit can you get?!

As for the price of rare earths, the price of rare earths is astonishingly low. Iwakitsuki has been contacting China's rare earth production companies recently, hoping to hoard rare earths and rare metals on a large scale, and use Mitsubishi's strength to realize the Japanese government's strategic resource reserve concept, but unexpectedly, Fan Wubing came in and ruined his good things.

At this time, it is obviously unrealistic to get the bargain from Fan Wubing, and it is only second best to settle for it. I hope Fan Wubing will not be too cheap.

Fan Wubing smiled. He knew very well what the Japanese are doing now. If there is no rare earth export in half a month, the related high-tech industries should be panicked.

However, it is not his purpose to intimidate Japan. If this matter is too big, it will eventually be resolved by dialogue between the government. This is not Fan Wubing's original intention. It is necessary to win full profits, but it must not be too much, otherwise the consequences will not be borne by the company.

"The price of indium metal cannot be negotiated. The price of rare earths can be temporarily transferred. The shipment volume for this year is set at a price first, and the transaction is about 60% of the international market price. As for the shipment volume next year, we will discuss it next year." Fan Wubing posted his own price code.

When Yan Qijun heard this, his face turned green. Although Fan Wubing had a discount on the international market price, the price was still three hundred times higher than the previous price. In other words, when he bought one ton of rare earths, he could only buy more than three kilograms at this time. What is this concept?!

As for the price of indium metal, the price has increased by thousands of times. Although the demand for this thing is not very large, it is impossible to do without it in the key areas! This is even more deadly than the rare earth!

"This price is something we can't bear. It's too far from the previous price. I think Fan Sang, you are not sincere." Ion Qijun naturally could not accept such conditions and said to Fan Wubing with gritted teeth.

Fan Wubing shrugged, "Then I can do nothing. This is my bottom line. If you can't accept it, we have to negotiate with the Koreans. They can still grit their teeth and accept such conditions. As far as I am concerned, Koreans are a little more genital than Japanese."

"Korean people?!" Ion Qijun was suddenly angry, "What do those people know?! As long as it is what we Japanese want to do, they are always willing to make trouble. They are just a group of troublemakers! If Fan Sang decides to deal with them, you will find that they are actually just saying it nicely without any professional ethics! They are completely different from us Japanese, who strictly abide by their promises!"

The bond between the Japanese and Koreans was not formed in one day. After fifty years of colonial rule, the hatred between the two sides was very deep, especially the two countries were separated by a sea, and there were never any mishaps. In the past, Americans were suppressing it. Now the Americans' strategic focus has begun to shift towards the Middle East, and China and South Korea have established diplomatic relations again. Koreans feel that they should obtain a broader space for activities from Northeast Asia. Therefore, the conflict issues in Japan and South Korea here are more prominent than before.

Fan Wubing mentioned the Koreans in a cold manner, which was something that made Iwakitsutsu particularly annoyed.

Because according to Iwakitsutsu, Koreans are also planning to reserve strategic resources. They used to have no diplomatic relations with China, and many things were inconvenient. Now that diplomatic relations have been established, they will naturally have various means to carry out the use. The Samsung Group, which he already knows, has the intention to purchase large amounts of rare earth resources and rare metal resources from China.

When Fan Wubing told this, Yan Qijun did not think that Fan Wubing was talking nonsense, but believed that Fan Wubing had already obtained enough market information and was just waiting for a price.

However, if the Koreans take the lead, they will not only suffer huge economic losses, but also be like the glory of the Iwaki family in terms of face. How can the outstanding people of the Yamato nation be defeated by these people? This is absolutely unacceptable!

At least Iwakijoon is sure of it. It is impossible to continue to obtain cheap rare earth and rare metal resources from China. It is difficult to say what will happen in the future. However, if you do not sign a sub-city alliance with Fan Wubing, the current dilemma of Mitsubishi chaebol will not be overcome, let alone suppress the development of Samsung Group and leave the Koreans. Therefore, Fan Wubing's request can only be agreed.

Yan Qijun calculated the demand for various materials that can be purchased at present, and then thought about the high price of people who are afraid of people. He felt like vomiting blood in his heart. However, Fan Wubing comforted him and said, "You should not be too greedy in life. You should think that you have taken a huge advantage in the past. Even now, compared with the high rare earth prices in the international market, you still have a discount of 40%. You should not be too greedy in life!"

"Okay, that's it! But my condition is that the supply volume this year is ours and we will never be able to sell it to those Koreans!" Iwaki Jun finally made a decision, but also put forward his own requirements.

Fan Wubing curled his lips and said, "Yan Qijun's request is really not open-minded enough. However, as my first major customer entering the rare earth market, you can enjoy some preferential conditions, so I can meet your request. I promise that Koreans will never take even a kilogram of rare earths from my hands!"

"I hope Fan Sang can keep his promise." Ion Qijun's face was very bad, but he still said with a strong spirit, "Let's talk about the supply volume and price this year in detail. We need to sign a formal contract."
Chapter completed!