Great Power Industry: You're a private company building an aircraft carrier?

Everyone looked over, staring at the guy who had spoken with the same look they had for an idiot. There was nothing they could do; this guy had only recently climbed to the position of a senior executive in the company and had no idea how things worked out.

Why would they need to do this now! Back when Guinea had just started mining iron ore, they sent people there, and then... the musician mercenaries appeared. This mercenary group is now the most powerful military organization in Africa. Needless to say, they have tanks and armored vehicles, as well as airplanes and warships!

Such an organization cannot be dealt with by a single mercenary force. Mercenaries would die in large numbers, unless it is a war of national scale! However, the regime in Guinea is stable. Any opposition that emerges will disappear without a trace. The key is that the economy has developed, the people are well-fed, and even have extra money to spend. Who would want to stand up against the country for no reason?

Over the past few years, countless people have tried to incite internal strife, but they have all disappeared!

That place is already the territory of the East, their most secure territory!

You dare to sabotage the railway? You won't even get close to the railway before you're killed!

“No, we can’t do that.” Paul shook his head helplessly: “We can only use fair competition.”

"What means?"

“Lower the price,” Paul said helplessly. “I think we can lower the price by 20 percent for the upcoming long-term contracts to attract steel mills, especially Eastern steel mills, to sign the same purchase volume agreements with us as before.”

“How could that be? Even if we lower the price, Dongfang Steel Plant might not come. Besides, if we lower the price, wouldn’t our profits suffer a huge loss?” Ander expressed his dissatisfaction.

"Anyway, the price is re-set every year. They can enjoy the price reduction for a year and then bring it back, right? As for Dongfang Enterprises... you still don't understand Dongfang. The competition between their state-owned and private enterprises is very fierce. We can take advantage of this contradiction..."

Everyone's eyes lit up. There's always a way out!

a few days later.

Baosteel's negotiator, Zhang Xiaogang, entered the meeting room. He looked at everyone present with a complex expression.

Steel companies from island nations and South Korea are frequent visitors here. Nippon Steel, POSCO, and others are used to this kind of occasion, but this is my first time, so I'm a little nervous.

"Ladies and gentlemen, there have been some new developments in this year's steel long-term agreement negotiations. Let us welcome our friends from the East with warm applause!" Martindale began from the podium.

Previously, people from the East were not qualified to enter this place and could only follow behind other countries. After the other countries negotiated and determined the initial price, our side would follow that price, and might even be forced to accept a certain degree of price increase.

Now, people from the East can finally attend these kinds of meetings!

"Last year, the East's iron ore imports reached 1.15 million tons, breaking the 100 million ton mark for the first time. This is a new beginning! The East also needs more iron ore, and I hope we can cooperate happily!" Martindale continued to try to get closer to them.

“We also hope for a pleasant cooperation,” Zhang Xiaogang said. “Especially for Baosteel, which relies entirely on imported iron ore, we hope for a reasonable price…”

Most steel mills in the East have their own iron ore mines, or rather, the steel mills are built near iron ore mines, such as Ansteel.

But Baosteel is not.

Back then, as Shanghai continued to develop, it also needed its own steel companies. So, the first thing that happened was a steel rolling mill, which used iron ore from a sister company. Later, in the late 1970s, when the country opened up, Shanghai saw the gap between itself and the world's advanced level and started a new round of imports, on a scale comparable to the 156 projects of that time.

In the steel industry, they completely imported technology from the island nation and replicated a factory here. The first phase of the project alone cost 30 billion yuan. Although it was RMB, it was 30 billion yuan in the 1980s!

However, the construction of Baosteel was necessary, and Baosteel thus became the most important steel enterprise in the East! The various steel products it produced strongly supported the economic development of the East, but... Baosteel also became the largest iron ore importer in the East as a result.

Other domestic steel mills, although they have their own iron ore, produce low-grade iron ore, mostly lean iron ore. Blending it with imported rich iron ore will result in better smelting results!

Hearing Zhang Xiaogang say this, everyone else found it amusing. How could someone just state their iron ore needs right off the bat? How could they possibly negotiate a lower price like that!

“Of course, we will certainly offer you the most suitable iron ore price,” Martindale said. “Now, let’s begin the negotiations!”

Nippon Steel Corporation is still leading the negotiations for the long-term iron ore agreement this year. Representative Hisanaga Sekiya stood up and said, "We believe that the price of iron ore is too high. We need to reduce the price by at least 20%! From $25 per ton to $20 per ton!"

In recent years, the price of iron ore has not been high, only two or three US dollars per ton. However, in later years, when the East became the world's largest importer of iron ore, the price began to soar, increasing fivefold, and finally reaching a sky-high price of 138 US dollars per ton. Eastern steel companies had no choice but to grit their teeth and accept it.

Now that Guinea's iron ore mines are being mined in large quantities, and Eastern steel companies are using iron ore from Africa, prices are unlikely to rise. In order to win back customers, iron ore suppliers have to lower prices!

“That won’t do. Our mining costs alone are close to that price, not to mention transportation costs. And the dollar has been depreciating over the years. We’ll be lucky if we can maintain the original price!”

"Hmph, if you won't lower the price, then we'll go to Africa to buy! The mining volume there has increased significantly, so we must reduce it by twenty percent!"

Zhang Xiaogang watched from the side and quickly realized that this was just a show, a performance to put on him in a price reduction act!

The 20% price reduction was something they had agreed on beforehand; now they're arguing back and forth!

“As long as you promise to reduce the price by 20%, our purchase quantity can increase by 10% compared to the previous pricing cycle!” Guan Gu Youchang continued.

"If you increase it by ten percent, what about the other buyers?"

The most exciting part is here!

POSCO stood up: "We'll also increase our procurement by ten percent!"

"We at Kawasaki Heavy Industries will also increase by 10%!"

Everyone said they wanted to increase their purchases by 10%!

Finally, it was Baosteel's turn!

All eyes turned to Zhang Xiaogang, who could only stand up and look around: "Everyone, we believe that the purchase price of twenty dollars per ton is still too expensive. If it can be reduced to fifteen dollars per ton, our purchase volume can be maintained at half of what it was before."