Chapter 10 Agricultural products are not the "dishes" of Wenzhou people

In 2010, the most common economic phenomenon in China should be the price increase of agricultural products: for a while, the price of mung beans rose, and for a while, garlic was outrageously expensive. "Ping what" has become a ridicule in people's desperation for the price increase of agricultural products. The price hikes of agricultural products one after another have not only become a market phenomenon, but also become a major event affecting people's lives.The National Development and Reform Commission stated that the direct driving force behind the increase in prices of agricultural products is hot money speculation.Reminiscent of the confusion brought about by house price increases and the price increases of agricultural products, people not only have a kind of panic, Wenzhou people, known as the city of "China's Jews", have once again been pushed to the forefront.

A netizen posted a post, writing nakedly: "Why are the prices of agricultural products suddenly rising one after another? Obviously, there are behind the scenes, and some people deliberately hype it up. Looking at businessmen everywhere, who has such a big hand? Who likes to speculate on these strange things? Weird stuff. Wenzhou people are the only ones! Don’t they always like to find other ways? No one has ever thought of frying these cheap agricultural products, but Wenzhou people are fancy! God, why don’t Wenzhou people give everyone more ways to survive? I have no place to live because the housing prices have been speculated by them. Is it possible that they are now speculating on agricultural products again. It’s fine if they don’t give me a place to live. Don’t they even let me eat to my heart’s content? Those rich lords in Wenzhou If you have money, enjoy it, you have already made a lot of money in the real estate market, why can’t you give us poor people some way to live? We strongly call on all netizens to despise Wenzhou people and stop giving them the chance to make money!”

Many of the following comments were filled with righteous indignation, and agreed that Wenzhou people do business without conscience, and that the standard of living of the people has been lowered.What's more, he viciously cursed Wenzhou people, and the level of resentment was no less than the attitude of Europeans towards Jews. It is undeniable that after the property market became less profitable, a lot of Wenzhou capital was withdrawn and invested in other fields, and some capital also flowed into the agricultural product market.However, the increase in the price of agricultural products in 2010 was not the result of speculation by Wenzhou capital, because agricultural products are not the "food" of Wenzhou people at all, and most Wenzhou businessmen are not interested in investing in agricultural products.

I have three reasons, which fully explain that Wenzhou people are not "cold" about agricultural products. 1. There is no direct evidence to prove that Wenzhou capital is behind the increase in the price of agricultural products. There are many factors for the price increase. Take garlic, for example. In 2010, the price of garlic suddenly rose more than ten times.If this is the result of private capital hype, then the people affected by habits will immediately think that there is hot money flowing into the garlic market. When it comes to hot money, it is almost inertial thinking, and immediately thinks of the huge capital of Wenzhou.

According to this reasoning, in areas where the garlic market is active, you should see many Wenzhou people.Just as people can see Wenzhou real estate speculators who spend a lot of money in the property market, people should also see "garlic fryers" who spend a lot of money.But in fact, in Jinxiang County, Shandong Province, known as the "Hometown of Garlic", there are no more than 10 Wenzhou people who specialize in garlic business, and many of these people have been doing garlic business all year round.If it was their hype, the garlic market should have been active a few years earlier, but it is not the case.Moreover, the local garlic chamber of commerce did not reflect the large-scale Wenzhou capital flowing into the garlic market.

There is similar circumstantial evidence for the absence of large-scale Wenzhou capital inflows in other agricultural product markets. In fact, the focus of Wenzhou's capital is not on agricultural products at all. The real estate market, stock market, industrial raw materials, energy, etc. are the favorite investment fields of Wenzhou people.Although the real estate market was not booming at the beginning, Wenzhou people still have a soft spot for some high-end real estate projects. After all, compared with ordinary investment projects, the real estate market is still a relatively profitable place.There are also some Wenzhou businessmen who like to invest in financial industries such as the stock market and gold. They think that turning from an industrialist to a financier is a kind of realm improvement.

Some people also mentioned the rise in cotton prices, saying that this was the result of the operation of the "Wenzhou Fried Cotton Group".It is undeniable that Wenzhou capital did enter the cotton area in Xinjiang, but we all know that Wenzhou people have failed in Xinjiang, but they are not as profitable as local cotton farmers. How can it be said that the increase in cotton prices is due to Wenzhou capital operations? The rise in cotton prices in 2010 was actually caused by the climate and the relationship between supply and demand. It was a spontaneous behavior of the market, and there was no manipulation behind the scenes by Wenzhou people.

In short, the price increase of agricultural products has nothing to do with Wenzhou capital.Although the amount of capital in Wenzhou is huge, it is not enough for personalities from all walks of life to pour in. 2. In the eyes of Wenzhou people, agricultural products are just small businesses. Not only is there practical evidence that Wenzhou capital has not entered the agricultural product market on a large scale, but from the perspective of investment thinking, agricultural products are not an investment project that Wenzhou people are keen on.Because agricultural products such as cotton, garlic, pepper, ginger, apples, etc., Wenzhou people don't look down on them at all, thinking that investing in these products is just a trivial matter, which is not in line with the style of Wenzhou people's large-scale investment and speculation.

When a Wenzhou real estate speculator saw netizens who were dissatisfied with the increase in the price of agricultural products, he said helplessly: "You think highly of us Wenzhou people too much. Apart from investing in the financial market, we Wenzhou people like to invest in things that are risky and profitable. How can you see investing in agricultural products in the real estate market, shops, energy, etc.? This kind of small-scale investment projects are only interested in those who have nothing to do. We are all engaged in big business. Just kidding , why would you care how much you can earn from a catty of garlic!"

Although the words are arrogant, they are not without reason. Recalling the hype methods of Wenzhou capital, there are all industries with huge profits: real estate, coal, gold, shops, etc., the capital involved in each industry is millions or hundreds of millions. More investment, more returns, This is the style of all kinds of fried dumplings. As for agricultural products, how much does a ton of garlic earn?Wenzhou people, who have experienced the slow accumulation of wealth bit by bit, are no longer satisfied with the accumulation of capital bit by bit. They want to be like the real estate market, where they can win hundreds of thousands or even millions of rich returns as soon as they make a move, so as to make wealth as soon as possible. Achieve geometric growth while algebraic growth.In this sense, it is impossible for Wenzhou people to integrate into the agricultural product market on a large scale, let alone operate such a low-profit industry in groups.

3. Industrial raw materials are the new favorite of Wenzhou people. In essence, after the cotton and coal speculation groups, Wenzhou capital has seldom cooperated in groups anymore, and it is difficult to generate the large-scale momentum of the real estate speculation group after 2000. Wenzhou capital has been dispersed.If they were invited to say that they have made any large-scale moves, it should be investment in industrial raw materials, such as raw coal, crude oil, logs, various metal and non-metal ores, and so on. The reason for choosing to invest in industrial raw materials, I think, is based on the following two reasons: 1. Industrial raw materials are closely related to the real economy. Agricultural products and industrial raw materials have completely different impacts on people's lives. Although farm products are a necessity, there are many options.For example, apples are expensive, so people can choose to eat peaches and bananas; garlic is expensive, people can choose not to eat, and this kind of seasoning food will not be eaten too much at one time.Because people have many choices, it is difficult to form a market monopoly, and the pursuit of high monopoly profits is the greatest hobby of Wenzhou people. But industrial raw materials are different, it has a strong pertinence.For example, some industries must use coal, and some industries must use certain metals.As long as Wenzhou capital monopolizes a certain material needed by a certain industry, it can make huge profits.This kind of control over a certain raw material is relatively easier, unlike the diversified choices that people can eat bananas instead of apples. A Wenzhou businessman surnamed Zhang said: "I partnered with a brother in the non-ferrous metal business and made more than 100 million yuan in the first half of 2009." Monopoly, the success rate of earning high profits is relatively high. 2. Industrial raw materials are also necessities. The fundamental reason why investing in industrial raw materials is easy to succeed lies in their irreplaceability. People cannot do without agricultural products because of the needs of survival and life; enterprises cannot do without industrial raw materials because of the needs of the survival and development of enterprises.It is precisely because of the needs of enterprises and the huge market space that Wenzhou talents are keen to invest in this project. Seeing this, some people may have doubts: Since investing in industrial raw materials can make you so rich, why doesn't other capital come in? The fundamental reason is that other capitals are not as large as those of Wenzhou. Industrial raw materials are bulk products with high returns but high investment costs.It is difficult for ordinary private capital to invest as much as Wenzhou Capital, and it is not as easy to form a group as Wenzhou Capital. Therefore, even if other people see the huge profit margin here, it is difficult to invest capital at once. Wenzhou people can easily seize it. market. ——Pursuing high profits and pursuing a space without competition is the consistent style of Wenzhou people. With such good investment opportunities, why do Wenzhou people speculate on agricultural products that are relatively small profits?