Holy Roman Empire

International food prices have plummeted, and domestic Austrian food prices have also suffered. Food prices have also plummeted.

The grain price in Austria has always been lower than the international market, and this time it is finally in line with the international market.

Not only is the price of food falling again, the prices of other agricultural products are also falling.The capitalists have struggled to drag the market, but in vain in the face of huge supply.

With the turmoil in the international grain market, a large amount of raw grain was sold to the market, which also impacted the export of finished grain.

Take the export of flour as an example. Not only has the price dropped by 9% compared with the same period last year, but even the total export volume has shrunk by 4%.

This is a sequelae of the Vienna government dumping Chen Liang to the United Kingdom. British capitalists who obtained cheap raw materials worked hard to squeeze the original market.

This is something that cannot be done. Flour cannot be stored for a long time.If you want to disrupt the grain trade between Britain and Russia, you can only use raw grain for shocks.

Prices have fallen, exports have shrunk, and companies engaged in the export of agricultural products have had a hard time, especially in processing industries with low technological content.

In Austria's agricultural product processing industry, a huge industrial chain has also been formed.There are more than three million industrial workers, and more than 800,000 people are engaged in flour processing alone.

There are tens of millions of farmers involved behind this, and the grain processing industry will be affected, which will inevitably affect the purchase of new grain.

At the Vienna Palace, Franz dropped the information in his hand, picked up the teacup, the light smoke rose, and the fragrance overflowed.

"It is necessary to stabilize the domestic market as soon as possible. The price of international raw grain trading plummets, and the price of finished grain trading plummets soon.

The capitalists will not last long.In the face of interests, few people can remain rational, and the finished grain market will not be stable for long.

The international market cannot be controlled. How many shares can be kept are counted, and there is no need to care about the gains and losses of the moment.

The growth rate of domestic food consumption is nearly 2%. As long as it lasts for two or three years, we can survive the crisis when the bankruptcy of farmers in various European countries erupts.

However, the government still has to adopt a more proactive policy and cannot wait for the market to adjust spontaneously.We do n’t have so much time to waste, otherwise the advantages accumulated earlier will be wasted."

The main reason for the increase in consumption is population growth, followed by the increase in the income of the people with economic development, and the increase in consumption.

Franz's proposal to absorb immigrants from various European countries is actually a means of increasing food consumption.

Of course, the main purpose of absorbing immigrants is for labor.The colony area of ​​Austria is already very large, and the development of these places requires a large population.

Even for the most valued African continent, after so many years of hard work to emigrate, the total population of Austrian Africa has broken through 10 million.

This number is far from enough, other colonies are even worse, because the population is too small, even the most basic development can not be done.

Secretary of Agriculture Halls stood up, took a report from the folder, and went up and handed it to Franz.

"Your Majesty, the Ministry of Agriculture proposes to increase the import tariffs on agricultural products to prevent foreign agricultural products from hitting the local market; at the same time, implement the minimum purchase protection price for grain and implement the recommended guidance price for domestic finished grain prices.

For the finished grain export enterprises whose profits are damaged, the Ministry of Agriculture proposes to give them export tax rebate subsidies to make up part of the losses.

This is a specific measure, and there are corresponding supporting plans.After the plan is implemented, the local agricultural product sales price will stabilize in the shortest time."

Raise import tariffs on agricultural products, this is for the Russians.In recent years, the Russian Empire ’s grain exports have only decreased, not completely disappeared.

However, this part of the grain did not directly enter the international raw grain market, but was sold to grain processing enterprises in Austria. After the processing was completed, it was sold to the international market, which also included the sale back to the Russian Empire.

Austria can occupy up to 70% of the international agricultural product export market, and the contribution of the Russians is indispensable.

Now that the Russian production capacity has exploded, Austria has been unable to eat it. In addition, countries have increased food production madly in recent years, and the international market has oversupplied demand. The Ministry of Agriculture naturally protects the interests of its nobles and farmers.

The lowest grain purchase protection price is also one of the measures to protect the interests of farmers.Including the following local finished grain sales guide price is also one of the links.

Simply put, the government sets a retail price range for finished grain, and companies can only set prices within this range.

Prior to this, the Vienna government had a maximum sale price for agricultural products, and now a minimum price has been added.

"Free market economy", unfortunately Austria has a market economy but not a free market economy.It is not once or twice that the government intervenes in the market.

Of course, if it is an industry that has nothing to do with international people's livelihood, the Vienna government never intervenes, for example: within crafts and luxury goods, it is very free.

At first glance, Franz nodded and shook his head.

"The following plans are all good, but raising import tariffs on agricultural products cannot be implemented for the time being. We have increased the tariffs, and the Russians will definitely take countermeasures to increase the tariffs on Austrian industrial and commercial products.

It is enough that this storm is confined to agriculture, and then spread to other industries, the consequences of which are more difficult to control.

We can restrict the implementation of the minimum grain purchase price, only for local, new grain this year; the tax rebate subsidies for enterprises are also limited to products processed using local grain.

In order to prevent companies from cheating on subsidies, once applying for tax refund subsidies, companies are prohibited from purchasing foreign agricultural products within six months."

Franz still remembers that an important reason why Germany and Russia turned their backs was because of agricultural tariffs.Of course, the situation is different now. The Russians have no confidence to turn their faces against Austria.

It's just that blindly intensifying the contradiction is not good, although the market of the Russian Empire is not good because of poor economic development, but that is also an important sales market for Austrian industrial and commercial products.

Moreover, the Russian-Austrian alliance has not yet collapsed, and the trade agreement signed between the two countries is still valid.Unless it is a breach of contract, raising the tariffs is a joke.

Within the scope of the agreement, it is clearly stipulated that the tariffs added each time must not exceed 5% of the original tax rate, and the same commodity can only be adjusted once within three years.

The 4% tariff on agricultural trade between Russia and Austria is increased by 5% based on this tax rate, which is 4.2%.With such a slight increase, Franz might as well not adjust.

The tsarist government has repeatedly raised taxes on Austrian industrial and commercial products, but it has not changed that Austrian goods are spreading on the shelves of Russian stores, which is enough to explain the problem.

Within the scope of the treaty between the two parties, there is no single item whose tariff rate can exceed 10%, and most of them have only a few points.

If you want to make it simpler in the past, it is to break the contract.This kind of treaty was finally signed by Franz before the Russians. How could it be possible to take the initiative to break the contract?

In this respect, the Minister of Agriculture's overall situation still needs to be improved.But this little problem, Franz is very generous, and the technical bureaucracy cannot be too demanding.

The other abilities are very general, but they are very powerful in the professional field.During the years he chaired the Ministry of Agriculture, Austrian agriculture has improved qualitatively.

The optimization of the agricultural industrial structure, the promotion of new agricultural technologies, the improvement of the agricultural industrial chain, etc. were all done under his auspices.

Now that Austria ’s agricultural production capacity is surplus, it is due to Hols.Of course, this cannot be blamed.In the case of making money, it is too difficult to change the farming habits of farmers.

The agricultural crisis of the original time and space lasted for more than 20 years, and forced one after another farmers to break their production, and then reached a balance again. The difficulty here can be imagined.

Growing cash crops is not a matter of one sentence, but also to ensure the benefits.Unfortunately, because of the opacity of market information, no one can make this guarantee.

Austria is not a planned economy. Farmers always plant whatever they want.This year's market is out of stock, and next year it may be rotten in the field and no one wants it.

In contrast, food is still a stable product.Perhaps the rate of return may be a bit lower, but it won't be lost.

After a brief pause, after digesting Franz's words, the colonial minister Stephen took out a document and handed it to Franz.

"Your Majesty, there have been frequent discoveries of gold mines in South Africa recently. The quality and reserves of these gold mines are quite amazing.

This is a report submitted by the Viscount Fickney, governor of South Africa. The preliminary judgment is that this is a larger gold mine group than West Africa, and the reserves may exceed the United States."

This is good news. Austria ’s defeat in currency hegemony and insufficient gold standard are also an important reason.

How rich South Africa's gold reserves are, Franz is naturally clear.I know Gui Gui, but when I say it, things are unclear.

The religious atmosphere in Austria is already very strong, and Franz does not want to continue to build momentum for the church.After so many years of rebirth, he showed no flaws, but relied on caution.

Anyway, gold is buried in the ground and can't run away.South Africa is occupied, these gold mines will be discovered sooner or later, and will eventually flow into Austria.

In fact, Austria's golden fate is also very good, almost every colony has gold.This was not specifically selected by Franz. It was the reality that led Austrian expansion in the past.

When the African colonies were first expanded, Franz did not expect to have today's foundation.How could it be cheaper for Austria if European countries did not value the African continent?

Expansion into the South Ocean was entirely an accident, an unexpected success; the existence of the Central American colony was only for the purpose of interfering in the South African war, and it could have the scale it is today, which also exceeded Franz's plan.

Before the action, Franz did not know that the small group of Central American countries, such scum.

Originally, he was only planning to borrow a place to settle in. As a result, a group of German immigrants from the United States accidentally fled, and he became a guest.

Of course, this argument estimates that those in power in small countries will be dissatisfied.There are only tens of thousands of white people in a country, and the army never has more than one regiment. What can it do to resist Austria?

Not to mention Alaska, it can be regarded as the Russians overwhelming.If you ignore the secretly sending public relations of Franz, this is the case.

Austria has developed to the point where it is today. In addition to hard work, the element of luck is also very important.Franz can only sigh that reality is legendary.

Picked up the file and flipped it through without any surprises.The historical missions of the two republics of Transvaal and Orange Free State have ended, and can now be returned to the arms of Austria.

There is nothing wrong with this, and the local people have become supporters of Austria.The republicans may have gone to see God. What happened is not mentioned in the report, nor does Franz know.

"Ready, then stage a farce and let the two republics dissolve! Since you want to develop the South African region, you can't keep them from keeping your eyes open."

Franz is serious, but he doesn't want to directly annex sovereign states.If Transvaal and Orange Free State were dissolved and the local people returned to the arms of Austria, then no problems existed.

Franz believed that Viscount Fickney could handle this problem.After such a long time, if the local powerful faction does not go to God, it must be their own.

Even if something goes wrong, that is not a problem.This year, the African colonies are very chaotic, and any accidents are normal.

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