Holy Roman Empire

After the closing of the Austrian Agricultural Economic Conference, the Government of Vienna announced to the outside world that it would replace some of its strategic reserve grains before the harvest of new grains.

This happens almost every year, except that it is generally bought when international food prices are low and sold when prices are high.

This time it was clearly an exception. Although it was not known how much food the Vienna government was going to sell, the international food market caused turbulence.

Compared with the beginning of the year, food prices on the international market have fallen by 9%. Now, affected by the sell-off of the Vienna government, food prices have plummeted by four points.

The capitalists of the pallet can no longer support it. The British-Russian trade has cost them a lot, and Austria has now made up for another.

Fortunately, the Vienna government announced a replacement, not a simple sell-off, or the impact will be more severe.

At the London Food Market, a middle-aged man dressed in a Chinese suit learned the price in the market as usual.

The middle-aged man named James is a small capitalist who owns a flour mill.Since the signing of the British-Russian Food Agreement, he has panicked.

Before the cheap food in Russia has entered, the capitalists who have a share of it are sold out.By the time James responded, it was too late.

Of course, it does n’t matter how fast the response is. This kind of fat is not something he is qualified to share.Originally James bought local wheat for processing, but now it can't.

Domestic wheat is not so cheap, if the purchase price is pushed down, it is estimated that he will be beaten directly.

In order to find cheap food sources, James turned his attention to the food trading market.Affected by international food prices, it is true that food prices here have fallen much more.

Suddenly seeing Austrian wheat appear on the billboard, James immediately stopped.You should know that in the past ten years, Austrian wheat has rarely appeared on the international market, and all the flour has been processed.

"Raul, what's wrong with this batch of grain, why is the price so low? I remember Austria doesn't export wheat, is it not smuggled?"

James asked half-jokingly, not to blame him for being surprised, mainly because it was not generally low, but low to the limit, a price beyond James' imagination.

"Mr. James, you can really laugh. If we were smuggled, we wouldn't smuggle food! This commodity is inconvenient to transport and the tax rate is low. There is no need to risk."

James ignored Raul's fight haha, grabbed a handful of wheat and looked at it. The initial judgment was Chen Liang, but this is not the reason why the price is so low.

"Leave me nonsense, let me tell you what's wrong with this batch of food? Don't tell me, there is this kind of cheapness that can be accounted for, and it's our turn!"

Raul smiled lightly and took out a newspaper and handed it to James.

"Mr. James, you can see that this batch of grain is all Chen Liang. Not long ago, the Vienna government announced the replacement of reserve grain, and Chen Liang in the warehouse will be sold at a discount.

You are also a professional. You must know that Chen Liang ’s price will be discounted.Now that this batch of grain has been stored for more than three years, the taste of processed flour will definitely have an impact.

In Austria, this kind of grain is usually not processed into flour, but used for winemaking, or processed into feed.

This time, the grain released by the Vienna government was relatively large before it flowed into the international market.The reason why it is so cheap is of course that the bureaucrats in London did a good job.

The new grains of the Russians are so cheap. Naturally, these old grains can only be cheaper, or to whom?"

It can be seen that Raul also has a deep grudge against the London government.The British-Russian trade agreement directly allows companies to sign contracts with the Russians, and the business of these intermediaries will naturally disappear.

If they were not to sell Chen Liang from Austria, they would close their doors.The price of grain on the international market is not as cheap as that of Russian grain.

James put down the wheat in his hand and grabbed it and rubbed it in his hand.

"Are you sure there is no problem with these foods?"

Raul: "Of course, if there is a problem, I will go to hell!"

Seeing that James was still hesitating, Raul added: "Mr. James, if you have any questions, you can inspect them yourself.

Such opportunities for bargain hunting are rare, and no matter how low international food prices are in the future, it is impossible to fall to this share.

You should know that if sold at this price, farmers all over the world will go bankrupt.This has fallen below the cost of production costs, just such a batch."

James is tempted, if there is no problem with food, just Chen Liang, it has complete purchasing value.He gritted his teeth and seemed to be determined.

"I want 30,000 tons, can it be cheaper?"

This is almost all the money that James can mobilize, but in order to obtain greater benefits, he decided to gamble.

The price of this batch of food is 15% cheaper than the food the London government received from the Russians.On the surface, it is normal for the price difference between Chenliang and Xinliang to be normal. In fact, this price is still too cheap.

Deep-seated reasons, James wisely did not investigate.Anyway, as long as he can make a fortune, what is he doing?

...

From May, grain from Austria quickly appeared on the British market.As soon as this cheap grain appeared, it was sought after by unscrupulous capitalists.

Everyone is smart, knowing that such prices are abnormal, and some even speculate that this is Austria ’s intention to disrupt the Anglo-Russian transaction, but this does not prevent them from making a fortune.

Food is different from other commodities, and storage for three to five years is not a problem.Anyway, it ’s all Chen Liang, and it ’s Chen Liang again.

The taste becomes worse, which is even a minor problem.As long as the processed flour is a little cheaper, there will be no worries in the market.

It's good to be able to fill your stomach, and you still want to pursue food taste. The average British citizen is not as bold.

Such a large-scale action naturally attracted the attention of the London government.However, this operation was not carried out by Austria alone, and a group of British capitalists participated.

The transaction between the London government and the Russians is equally unlikely to benefit everyone, and many capitalists are still undermined.

If no action is taken, it will be very difficult for them to survive until the influx of Russian food is in full swing.

In this context, they naturally do not mind cooperation with Austria.Anyway, it is legal trade, and the London government has no right to interfere.

Want to set restrictions to prevent Austrian grain dumping.Sorry, the parliamentary level is not easy. Opponents for their own interests, holding high the banner of free trade, made Benjamin's cabinet helpless.

Can the free trade system be overthrown? This is the core of British economic policy.Of course, such troubles have little effect on Prime Minister Benjamin.

A new round of election results has come out, and he is now the former prime minister.What is worrying is the Liberal cabinet being formed, which is also a pit for rival William-Yoult-Gerston.

At a critical moment in the transition, Benjamin ’s cabinet responded negatively, and after completing the handover of rights, the London government wanted to take measures too late.

In just a few months, Austria has dumped 8.5 million tons of rye, 3 million tons of wheat, 4.3 million tons of corn, 3.2 million tons of soybeans ...

What happened in the United Kingdom also affected the international food market, which would be a real collapse, and suddenly plunged by 15%.

The cheap food of the Russians has not yet appeared on the international market, and as a result prices have fallen almost.

At the beginning of the year, rye in the international food market was still 25 AED, but now it has dropped to 18.6 AED; corn has also dropped from 18.8 AED; to 14.1 AED ...

In short, the prices of all staple foods are plummeting, and prices of other agricultural products are also greatly affected.In people's panic, it is the culprit responsible for all this.

At this point, everyone will lose money together.Everyone knows that the current price is not the lowest point, and after the autumn harvest, food prices will usher in a new trough.

Food supply exceeds demand, and the good days of the major food exporting countries are over.If there is no fuse for the Anglo-Russian grain loan agreement and no grain dumping by the Vienna government, then this agricultural crisis will slowly erupt.

It is not possible now, and the crisis immediately detonated as soon as it approached.1872 is destined to be a tragic year, and the unsalable food sales will become a hot topic in the second half of the year.

This is no longer a matter of price, but simply cannot be sold.The best way to stabilize grain prices is to reduce grain output and destroy excess agricultural products.

As a responsible big country, Austria will naturally take positive measures.In July, the Austrian Ministry of Agriculture issued a call to the major grain-producing countries in the world, hoping that all countries would simultaneously reduce grain production capacity.

On August 12, the Government of Vienna promulgated the "Land Fallow Law", which expressly stipulates that the land for growing grain must be fallow.The specific fallow time is determined by the local government according to the actual situation.

The law that seems to be effective actually has very limited influence.Austria has a long tradition of agricultural fallow, but this time it is clearly specified.

According to estimates by the Ministry of Agriculture, Austria ’s grain output can be reduced by about two or three percentage points.This is not a small number, it can alleviate the crisis of overcapacity.

On August 15th, the Government of Vienna promulgated the "Land Reclamation Law", which clearly stipulates that the newly cultivated land in Europe will be banned from growing crops such as wheat, corn, rye and potatoes within five years.

These measures are far from being able to hydrolyze the thirst, and in any case, the crops that have been planted in the field cannot be pulled out.

In 1872, Austria ’s grain output will still not decrease, and it will not affect the price of the international grain market in a short time.