Chapter 28 8.2 The era of earning money and being blamed

Doing futures through the exchange not only completed the procurement task, but also made a fortune, but the cadres of Ng Fung Hong were uneasy as if they had made a mistake.Facing the criticism, Chen Yun thought about it for a year, and he was confident: using the exchange did not exploit the surplus value created by the workers! Although Chen Yun has repeatedly expressed the hope that the foreign trade department can break the box.However, the huge political risk of doing so still makes it difficult for everyone. However, the shadow of extreme leftism is like a sharp sword hanging above the head at any time, making it difficult for cadres to let go of specific tasks.For this reason, Chen Yun not only encouraged the foreign trade department to study capitalism and break the constraints of the old framework, but also actually supported their work.

In April 1973, under the leadership of the Ministry of Foreign Trade, Ng Fung Hong, managed by Hong Kong China Resources Corporation and the branch of China National Cereals, Oils and Foodstuffs Import and Export Corporation in Hong Kong, received the task of purchasing 470,000 tons of raw sugar within the year.At that time, the demand for granulated sugar in the international market exceeded the supply, the supply of goods was tight, and the price tended to rise.If Ng Fung Hong directly purchases a large amount of raw sugar in the international market, it will definitely stimulate the price of raw grain in the international market, and it may not be able to buy the spot goods on time if the price is high.In order to complete the task of purchasing sugar, Ng Fung Bank entrusted Hong Kong businessmen to purchase 260,000 tons of futures (that is, to buy and sell a certain commodity at a certain time in the future) on the London and New York Sugar Exchanges, with an average price of 82 pounds per ton about.Then immediately purchased more than 410,000 tons of spot goods (commodities traded at that time) from Brazil, Australia, London, Thailand, Dominica, and Argentina, with an average price of about 89 pounds per ton.

Sure enough, when the market saw China buying a large amount of sugar, it immediately reacted strongly.Since May 20, the international market began to spread the news of China's large-scale purchases, and the prices of cash loans and futures in the New York and London sugar markets immediately rose sharply.Then, Australia and Brazil successively confirmed the news that China purchased sugar from them, and the market price of raw sugar rose further.It rose to £105 per tonne by May 22.Ng Fung Hong sold the futures from May 22 to June 5 because the task of purchasing sugar spot has been completed.In addition to the fee and profit due to the middleman of 600,000 pounds, Ng Fung Hong also earned 2.4 million pounds.

The purchase task was completed again, and a lot of money was made again. Such a thing could not be done more beautifully.But the cadres of Wufenghang couldn't relax, and even felt uneasy as if they had made a mistake.It was only because there were three links in this matter, and there were problems at that time: one was the exchange, which was the place for the distribution of surplus value mentioned by the ancestors, and it was as notorious as the casino we talked about today; the other was futures, Buying short and selling short, buying at a low price and selling at a high price, isn’t that just speculation; the third is to find capitalist businessmen to speculate and make money for socialist enterprises through middlemen, which will even make some politically sensitive people feel a little “socialist” nor.

After breaking through the restricted area that may be regarded as a form of capitalist speculation, on July 14, the general manager of Ng Fung Hong reported to Chen Yun anxiously about the purchase of some raw sugar through futures on the exchange through private traders.After hearing this, Chen Yun not only did not blame, but praised him greatly, saying: In the past, sometimes he only focused on completing the task, and the price rose more and more, and he didn't know if he suffered a loss. This is not good.We must not only complete the tasks, but also strive for favorable prices so that we will suffer less or no losses.

As for the issue of exchanges, futures, and the use of middlemen, what should we do if someone asks us?Chen Yun reassured them. About using the exchange.Chen Yun said: The use of capitalist exchanges is a big policy issue.The exchange has dual nature, one is speculative, and the other is a large trading place.In the past, we only saw its speculative side, ignoring its side as a place for large transactions, which was one-sided.We should not be afraid of contacting the exchange, we must learn to swim in the wind and waves. As for using the exchange to make futures, Chen Yun believes that this is only a protective measure to avoid losses.We are the foreign trade of a socialist country, and we will never engage in speculation.You must be very cautious when using exchanges. There may be gains and losses, but you must gain less than you lose.The main source of our foreign exchange is to develop production, expand the source of export goods, improve product quality, must import packaging and decoration, and produce more high-end goods.

Chen Yun thinks there is no problem in engaging in futures through middlemen.He said that at present, most of my country's trade with capitalist countries is carried out through middlemen, and we cannot do without middlemen.No matter which form of middleman is adopted, many import and export prices must be determined with reference to the exchange price. In order to support Ng Fung Hong and open the door to use the exchange, Chen Yun said: Regarding this issue, the core group of the Ministry of Foreign Trade will hold a meeting to discuss, and I will also attend, and then write a report to the central government.

After the core group discussion of the Ministry of Foreign Trade, on October 10, Chen Yun drafted the "Report on the Use of Commodity Exchanges in Import Work" on behalf of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and submitted it to the State Council. In this report, Chen Yun briefly reported on Ng Fung Bank's use of futures to purchase raw sugar through middlemen on the exchange.Then suggest: use the exchange to do business.There are certain risks, but under certain conditions, you can try it. With the strong support of Chen Yun, futures in China's foreign trade work have been developed.Chen Yun paid special attention to it. When the Ministry of Foreign Trade began to make futures and adjust the price of export commodities, it held weekly meetings. Chen Yun attended each meeting and discussed the research plan with everyone.As the leader of the State Council, it is very rare to go to the grassroots level to participate in departmental business meetings and give guidance on the front line.

This incident has become an important event in the development of foreign trade and economics, and it has very positive significance in inspiring everyone to emancipate their minds and promote foreign trade mode and system reform. While futures trading has taken off, doubts about the political correctness of the matter remain.The exchange is a place for the distribution of surplus value, so now using overseas exchanges to buy sugar, is it also involved in the exploitation of the surplus value of the working class?Chen Yun thought about this question for a whole year.Until July 4, 1974, when he talked with the person in charge of the Ministry of Foreign Trade, he still mentioned this matter, thinking that there was nothing politically wrong with it.We use the exchange only to prevent the capitalists from getting all the excess profits and not to exploit the surplus value created by the working class.At that time, when the "Gang of Four" had provoked the "Snail Incident" and started to create the "Fengqinglun Incident", attacking the introduction of equipment and foreign trade work against the spirit of self-reliance and "worshiping foreigners and fawning on foreigners", Chen Yun's statement undoubtedly indicated that the work of the Ministry of Foreign Trade was Favorable support.

Under the assistance and guidance of Chen Yun and under the leadership of the new Minister of Foreign Trade Li Qiang, the foreign trade work made great progress in 1973.Through gold sales and futures trading, the foreign trade department quickly earned back US$3 billion, nearly US$400 million more than the US$2.64 billion in total exports last year.That is to say, according to the estimate of the total foreign trade import and export volume of 8 billion US dollars in 1973, this amount far exceeded 1/3, which was already a very remarkable achievement at that time.