Chapter 914: Old Friend in a Foreign Land

For the French who invest or engage in trade activities in East Africa, they believe that the economic activity in East Africa is not bad, and the opportunities they encounter here and with their compatriots are very great.

"Hi, Burley, you returned to China last month. I thought I wouldn't see you for a long time!" Cross said in surprise when he saw a familiar figure.

"It turns out to be you, Mr. Cross. Of course I can't leave for too long. After all, we are doing long-term business with East Africa. I just returned home last month to report some situations to the company."

Burleigh is the commercial manager of a French machinery company in East Africa. With the recent policy of phasing out backward industries in the central and eastern regions of East Africa, many equipment and technologies have been updated, so the import of related foreign products is also increasing, and Burleigh is here. Under the premise, a large order was negotiated with East African manufacturers, which attracted the attention of the company headquarters.

"I really envy you who are engaged in mechanical equipment. Recently, many factories in East Africa have been replacing equipment. Many old machines in Dar es Salaam were dismantled and then transported from the railway, and then internationally higher-level equipment was purchased. This time Your company must have made a lot of money!”

Cross asked enviously. Dar es Salaam is one of the key cities in East Africa's industrial upgrading. It mainly eliminates a number of old equipment introduced in East Africa in the 1970s and 1980s. Some of these equipment are even old enough. Going back to the 1940s and 1950s.

During the economic crisis of the 1970s, when the European and American industries were introduced to East Africa and the domestic industrial system was established, the requirements for equipment were not high.

After all, East Africa was a completely agricultural country with zero foundation at that time. The technology and equipment requirements for industries starting from scratch were not too high, but paid more attention to price.

Moreover, education and industry in East Africa had not yet taken shape at that time, and there was a lack of relevant talents. This led to many "problems" with many of the machines introduced. Simply put, many people were deceived or "cheated".

This time, East Africa will eliminate backward industries and upgrade industries in the central and eastern regions. Naturally, it will not follow the same path as last time.

On the one hand, East Africa's domestic industrial level has improved and many things can be manufactured independently. On the other hand, due to compulsory education, East Africa has cultivated a large number of qualified industrial workers and technicians, so they are no longer a novice at the technical level.

Of course, there is another reason that cannot be ignored, that is, this time East Africa is not as wealthy as it was in the 1970s. In the 1970s, due to the economic crisis, European and American industrial products were unsaleable, so prices were low, and Ernst was well prepared. , so it is more atmospheric when introduced into industry.

But today, more than ten years later, there are not such good opportunities. In addition, the East African government has recently spent a lot of money on the construction of various projects, so it is relatively hesitant to spend money on the introduction of equipment and technology.

With high demands and unwillingness to spend more, it is naturally unlikely that such a good thing will happen to East Africa. However, the difference from more than ten years ago is that the size of East Africa's economy is now much larger than before, and the government's fiscal revenue has naturally risen linearly. Agricultural development alone has nearly tripled East Africa's fiscal revenue.

In addition, this industrial upgrade is limited to the central and eastern regions, so the East African government is still capable of doing it.

Although it is only the upgrading of industries in the central and eastern parts of the country, the profits are already a huge number for European and American businessmen. As for how to get orders from East Africa, it is natural for each country to show its magic, and Burley's company is The winner of this round of competition.

"No, in fact, in the past three months of negotiations with East African manufacturers, I almost lost my temper. The other party was too difficult to deal with. Not only did they not offer high prices, but they were also critical of our company's products. If you understand the hard work, You probably won’t envy me.”

Although Burley was complaining, it could be seen from his expression that this boy had made a lot of money this time, and the corners of his mouth were almost raised to the sky.

Regarding this point, Burley is actually not lying. What he said is objective. But even if he earns less, it is only in relative terms. After all, East Africa is not a third world. As one of the top ten industrial countries in the world, it is also It has bargaining power, so as a buyer, East Africa’s bargaining power is pretty good.

Burley continued: "And you businessmen who buy East African agricultural products are the most enviable in my opinion. The prices of agricultural products in East Africa have been falling in the past few years! You can make more than before just by going back and forth." There are so many people, it’s so annoying.”

As an agricultural country, the East African government's main source of income is still agriculture. In recent years, the scale of planting various agricultural products in East Africa has been expanding. In addition, East Africa urgently needs funds from agriculture to develop industry. Therefore, the East African government has given a large amount of money to the sale of agricultural products. Discounts for various countries.

Of course, East Africa will not lose money and make money. With the transformation of agricultural cultivation, tropical cash crops are now the leading products of East Africa's agricultural exports, such as tea, rubber, cotton, etc.

In addition, East Africa also has strategic considerations. Lowering the export price of agricultural products can also further suppress East African competitors such as Brazil, Southeast Asia, and India. Therefore, when the advantages outweigh the disadvantages, East Africa will naturally do this.

As for what Burley said, Cross did not deny that the price of agricultural products in East Africa has fallen in recent years, which is naturally a good thing for traders like him.

Both he and Burleigh are French. As an industrially developed country, France has a relatively high demand for agricultural products, especially cash crops.

Although France is an agricultural powerhouse in Europe, and even farmers have high incomes, this is limited to the cultivation of food crops and a small number of cash crops. Other agricultural products mainly rely on imports.

East Africa, a major producer of cash crops, can naturally form a certain complementarity with France. As for the colonies opened up by France, although they are large in scale, it will take time to develop them and they cannot replace East Africa, the world's first tropical cash crop power.

Take France's West African colonies for example. Although they are not small in area, many of them have only been included in the colonial scope in recent years. In addition, the black population in West Africa is actually not large, and it is divided by several foreign countries.

After all, West Africa has long been the main location of the slave trade. In the past, at least 70 million of the 100 million people lost in Africa in the slave trade were lost from West Africa.

It's just that West Africa's foundation is better than East Africa, so the impact is not too great, but because of the backward civilization, the overall natural growth rate of blacks is actually not high.

The population explosion of African countries in the past was basically a matter after the mid-to-late 20th century. The improvement of productivity can indeed bring population growth, but now Western colonists have not had time to improve the productivity of West Africa. The specific effect will not be reflected until at least 20 years later.

And because of the crowding together, the colonies of various countries in West Africa are actually in a fragmented state, so they cannot be effectively integrated.

For example, Portugal's Ouidah colony was firmly located between the British and German colonies. According to the original history, it should have been occupied by the French as early as the year before last (1894).

In fact, after losing Angola and Portugal, Portugal attached unprecedented importance to the Ouidah colony. Not only did it not lose this colony, but it expanded its area several times and finally annexed the Kingdom of Dahomey (now southern Benin).

Of course, Portugal's success is inseparable from the support of the British. After all, during the South African War, Portugal lost too badly with Britain, so there was no intention to compensate Portugal. After all, after the South African War, Portugal had become Britain's most loyal younger brother.