Chapter 200: Smoking Friend's Thoughts and Sister-in-Law Invite Me to Dinner Tonight

Li Xiaofan said happily: "Jenny, let me tell you some good news. The supermarket chain company in the United States has passed the test of product samples provided by our company. In a few days, the person in charge of their purchasing department will come to Singapore to visit our Yifan company and go to China. Factory inspection in Mainland China!”

Jenny was also excited about the news: "Wow, really, that's great! Director Li, does this mean that if the Americans come over and pass the factory inspection this time, Singapore Yifan Company can become their qualified supplier?" Discussed?"

"Well, yes!"

"But, Director Li, I have a small question. If the person in charge of the purchasing department of that American supermarket chain goes to the mainland to see those factories, will he bypass your third party and purchase directly from those mainland manufacturers?"

"Jenny, this is theoretically possible, but it may not happen yet!"

"Why?"

"First, the scale of factories in mainland China is not very large. Many factories do not have independent import and export licenses. It is difficult to find talents in the factories who can speak English and can communicate smoothly with foreigners. At present, most of these factories You still need to export through an agent, and we have added Po Yifan Company or the Yifan Industrial and Trading Company in the Mainland are their best bridges! Second, for the purchasing department of the American supermarket chain, there are too many categories of goods they want to purchase, and there are many rules involved. Problems, for example, if mainland textiles are exported to the United States, they need quotas...

Li Xiaofan continued to explain: "If they go to negotiate with every factory, large and small, in the mainland, for the purchasing department of the supermarket chain in the United States, they simply don't have that much manpower and energy, so they have centralized supply capabilities through us. Using middlemen is a better solution. As long as they find a few more middle traders who can provide quality services, they can save a lot of energy..."

Li Xiaofan briefly explained it to Jenny, and Jenny understood it immediately.

After Jenny left, Li Xiaofan quickly called Wu Xiumei in Mingzhou to tell her the news and asked her to quickly prepare a factory inspection itinerary for American guests to come to mainland China for his review.

Last week Wu Xiumei officially resigned from Mingzhou Tiandi International Trading Company, rented an office in the Yuehu International Trade Building in the city center, and recruited an accounting and foreign trade assistant. Mingzhou Yifan Industry and Trade Company has been listed for trial operation. .

Recently, through the advertisement published by Singapore Yifan Company on the Yahoo website, Li Xiaofan has received many consultation calls from all over the world, and received many orders for foreign trade plastic daily necessities and gifts, all of which were transferred to Wu Xiumei for processing. Although the amount is not very large, it has a different meaning for the newly established Mingzhou Yifan Industry and Trade Company. The customer base is slowly expanding!

After Li Xiaofan got an email address later, he sent his email address to the Yahoo webpage, which made it easier to contact merchants from all over the world.

During tea time at ten o'clock in the morning, Li Xiaofan likes to go to the outdoor open green space downstairs to smoke a cigarette and relax.

Because I often smoke cigarettes, I got to know a few old smokers in suits and ties. Some of these smokers are local Singaporeans, and there are also several foreigners from Europe and the United States, but they all have the same background. They are either from major international investment banks or multinational financial institutions.

Raffles Place is like Shanghai's Lujiazui Financial District, surrounded by high-end office buildings. It is an economic and financial landmark of Singapore, a concentration of major banks and investment banks in the Asia-Pacific region, and the heart of the financial business in the entire Asia-Pacific region at that time.

For example, the Asia-Pacific headquarters of Citibank, the Asia-Pacific headquarters of Standard Chartered Bank, and the local headquarters of United Overseas Bank, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation, and DBS Bank are all located here. The offices of major international investment banks such as Goldman Sachs, JP Man, Merrill Lynch, and Deutsche Bank are also located here. this area.

Like Li Xiaofan, a long-sleeved shirt, trousers, and leather shoes are the most basic outfits. Many large companies also require suits and leather shoes. These white-collar workers in suits and ties are quite comfortable staying in air-conditioned offices, but they sweat profusely as soon as they go outdoors.

While smoking and chatting with these smokers from global investment banks and financial institutions, Li Xiaofan was able to learn a lot about the latest global financial trends and events.

For example, at the end of February, the Bank of England announced that the British bank Barings had collapsed due to operating errors, causing a series of strong fluctuations and subsequent events in the financial circles of Asia, Europe and the Americas...

Then came the Crédit Lyonnais affair. Credit Lyonnais is one of the three largest commercial banks in France. 96% of the voting rights of 94% of its common shares are controlled by the French government, but due to a large number of bad debts. Recently French Finance Minister Alfondry announced the second rescue plan...

Recently, there was also the Mexican financial crisis. The Mexican government suddenly announced that the national currency, the peso, would depreciate by 15%. This decision caused great panic in the market. Foreign investors frantically sold pesos and snapped up dollars, causing the peso exchange rate to plummet. As the peso depreciated, foreign investors withdrew their funds in large numbers, Mexico's foreign exchange reserves plummeted, and Mexico's entire financial market was in chaos. In just three days, the exchange rate of the Mexican peso against the U.S. dollar plummeted 42%, which is extremely rare in modern financial history. This financial crisis has shocked the world, is extremely harmful, and has far-reaching consequences...

While listening to fellow smokers chatting about the Mexican financial crisis, Li Xiaofan was thinking of the Asian financial crisis that would occur two years later, in the midsummer of 1997. His chances were huge...

…

At noon, Li Xiaofan and Jenny and a group of colleagues went to an air-conditioned food court near the office building to eat.

In Singapore, the English word for "food court" is food urt, which is generally an air-conditioned indoor food center.

The price of the same food in an air-conditioned food court is very different from that in a wet market. For example, the same Hainanese chicken rice or Fujian fried noodles costs 1.5 to 2 Singapore dollars in a wet market, but the price in an air-conditioned food court may double to about 4 Singapore dollars.

There are many high-end office buildings in the Raffles Place area, and lunch for white-collar workers at noon every day is a major livelihood issue. At that time, there were at least a dozen food courts near Raffles Place. It has to be said that Singapore is a country of food courts.

This kind of air-conditioned food court is mostly opened on the basement floor of a shopping mall. It is very large and has air conditioning. There are tables and chairs for diners to share in the middle, and there are stalls selling food around it. Each shop will have a main food, which is rarely repeated.

At about 12 o'clock in the afternoon, Li Xiaofan and Jenny and a group of colleagues came to the air-conditioned food court to eat. It was the peak period. There were long queues in front of many stalls, and it seemed that the longer the queue, the more people there were.

When Singaporean white-collar workers go to the food court for lunch, one of the must-have weapons is a pack of napkins in hand, which is very useful.

When you are still confused about what to eat for lunch, or are still queuing at the stall, you can use your pack of napkins to help you reserve a seat at the public table in the middle.

When the guests behind see a pack of napkins on the table, they will leave and find a seat at other tables.

Li Xiaofan ordered a bowl of beef fried rice noodles and was queuing when his cell phone rang.

The call was from Mingge's wife Irene: "Afan, have you had lunch?"

"I'm queuing at the food court, sister-in-law!"

"Oh, hard work. By the way, Afan, do you have any plans for the evening?"

These days, Mr. Tang was in a very good mood and took Fujiwara Anzi and Tang Xinyi to Bali for vacation. Irene had an appointment with a doctor at Singapore General Hospital to try artificial insemination, so she and Tang Jiaming did not go to Bali.

"Not yet, sister-in-law, what do you want?"

"If you don't have any plans, sister-in-law will treat you to dinner tonight..."