The news that the Huaxia purchasing delegation had left the United States for Brazil to procure soybeans spread throughout the US in an instant. Those outside the industry might not have found this news significant, but those within understood that the institutional alliance was likely finished.
Most people scoffed at the alliance's foolishness. The Huaxia people had been willing to sign a contract for $680 per ton, but the alliance's greed had pushed them away. Indeed, capitalists were utterly foolish and extremely greedy.
Of course, some believed this was a setup by the Huaxia purchasing alliance. Everything appeared too perfect and reasonable, which made it seem quite unreasonable. Moreover, they believed Brazil didn't have enough soybeans for the Huaxia procurement delegation.
Soybeans ripen at the end of the year, and currently, Brazilian soybeans were still in their growing season. Theoretically, all Brazilian soybeans were already concentrated in the US futures market. Brazil would, at most, have only the national reserve of over two million tons of soybeans, and it was absolutely impossible for them to possess four million tons to meet the delegation's needs.
However, the delegation had left so decisively, implying there must be a conspiracy.
It was precisely because of this that Kraft forcefully suppressed the alliance, urging them to try and maintain the current soybean prices. Kraft's reasoning was simple: these were all tactics by the Huaxia purchasing delegation, a means to force them to concede on prices.
They couldn't buy any soybeans in Brazil; Brazil would, at most, have two million tons.
Simultaneously, Kraft's contacts in Huaxia indicated that the financiers behind the Huaxia purchasing delegation were also very anxious, as they were watching soybean prices rise by over a hundred dollars.
Meanwhile, China domestically faced a severe shortage of soybeans. Many soybean enterprises had halted production, soybean prices began to soar, and the entire nation was waiting for soybeans to be cooked.
If soybeans weren't transported to China in a short period, the Chinese soybean industry would be finished. In short, the Huaxia purchasing delegation had to find a way to obtain soybeans within 20 days, or they would be torn apart by angry domestic soybean enterprises.
Thus, Kraft assured the alliance that these were merely the Huaxia purchasing delegation's tactics. The Chinese couldn't buy soybeans and were pressuring them to lower prices.
Kraft's claims held weight, and if prices collapsed at this moment, all institutions would suffer heavy losses, making it difficult to sustain themselves. Therefore, whether willing or not, they had to believe Kraft's analysis and firmly believe that these were all Chinese tactics.
While the alliance believed this, retail investors in the futures market did not.
These retail investors, who had keenly noticed the alliance's actions, had successively purchased over a million tons of soybeans, intending to profit alongside the alliance.
Now that the Huaxia purchasing delegation had left, they considered a soybean price collapse a foregone conclusion. If not now, when would they exit?
Thus, over a million tons of soybeans were instantly flooded into the market, directly causing soybean prices to plummet by about $50. At the same time, more and more soybeans began to rot and became difficult to store.
It is common knowledge that soybeans stored in warehouses have a maximum shelf life of two years. Beyond that, they would rot and deteriorate to the point of unusability.
However, this was for warehouses specifically designed for soybeans. Due to the excessive quantities stored this time, specialized soybean warehouses couldn't accommodate them all. They had to be placed in other types of warehouses, resulting in the soybeans beginning to spoil and become unusable.
Furthermore, these hidden soybeans were not just the over ten million tons held by the alliance. An additional twenty-eight million tons were controlled by various soybean processing enterprises in the United States.
In fact, global soybean production had increased last year, particularly in the US, where soybean output was 3% higher than the previous year, reaching ninety-eight million tons.
Market digestion accounted for approximately sixty million tons, leaving thirty-eight million tons that the market did not absorb.
Ten million tons of this fell into the hands of various financial institutions for speculation. The remaining twenty-eight million tons were stored by various US soybean processing enterprises.
The attack on China's soybean processing industry was initiated by these processing enterprises. To gain dominance in China's soybean processing, they naturally had to contribute significantly.
Thus, they purchased twenty-eight million tons of soybeans more than their normal plan, and all these soybeans were stored in their warehouses. According to their plan, as long as the financial institutions succeeded, even if only a quarter of these twenty-eight million tons were absorbed by the market, they would recover the cost of twenty-eight million tons.
Subsequently, they would borrow money from financial institutions, using the funds from Chinese soybean purchases to, in turn, absorb Chinese soybean processing enterprises, thus achieving the takeover of an entire nation's industry.
Therefore, this entire operation was actually the result of a joint effort between the financial institution alliance and major US soybean processing enterprises.
However, now the Huaxia purchasing delegation had left, the soybeans held by financial institutions were beginning to rot, and the soybeans stored in their own warehouses were close to capacity. These soybeans also severely impacted the cost structure of various processing enterprises. If they couldn't find a way to offload these soybeans and convert them into US dollars, their own businesses would struggle to survive.
Of course, large agricultural enterprises were indifferent to this small amount of money, but smaller agricultural enterprises were not. They also began to quickly sell off their accumulated soybeans, totaling about six million tons. This was no longer a quantity that the financial institutions, aiming to maintain high prices, could absorb.
At this point, these financial institutions could only constantly negotiate with the agricultural associations behind them, demanding that they control the members of the association and absolutely not release all the soybeans in their inventories onto the market until the Chinese discovered they couldn't obtain a single soybean in Brazil and were forced to return home.
Therefore, for the next few days, soybean futures prices experienced continuous fluctuations. Sometimes prices would plummet by tens of dollars in a single day, only to rebound by tens of dollars the next. However, prices were generally controlled at around $700 per ton.
This seemed like a favorable outcome, but it was all at the expense of the financial alliance's capital. Their holding costs were nearing $600 per ton. These financial institutions no longer expected to sell at $700 per ton; they just hoped for a quick transaction at $680 to break even.
It wasn't until the fifth day that the Huaxia purchasing delegation, having worked in Brazil for three days, officially held a press conference announcing their successful procurement of four million tons of soybeans. They also announced that these soybeans had been loaded onto ships and were en route back to China.
To demonstrate the veracity of this news and to appease the anxious domestic processing enterprises waiting for soybeans, the delegation specifically invited many media outlets to visit the port and witness firsthand over twenty cargo ships loaded with soybeans.
One media outlet even professionally produced a measuring rod, a tool used to measure the depth of soybeans in the cargo hold to confirm the quantity.
In addition, others checked the waterlines to ascertain the seaworthiness of the cargo ships.
These financial institutions were certainly not fools. They had seen strategies where cargo was piled on the surface, but the holds were empty, used solely to manipulate market confidence.
Therefore, these financial institutions were highly suspicious that these ships were merely covered with a few meters of soybeans, with nothing substantial inside.
Unfortunately, all of this turned out to be true. All inspections confirmed that nearly four million tons of soybeans were indeed stored in the shipyards, and the vessels then smoothly set sail for China.
This first batch of four million tons of soybeans was enough for Chinese enterprises to use for three months. At the very least, for three months, Chinese enterprises would not have to worry about a shortage of soybeans.
This meant that if these financial institutions still wished to maintain market prices, they would have to endure another three months.
Heh heh, only a fool would do that.
While crying out that his teammates were all pigs, Kraft ordered his subordinates to sell off the soybeans in their hands as quickly as possible, capitalizing on the fact that some fools and retail investors in the futures market still believed soybean prices would continue to rise.
But the problem was that others weren't fools either. Instantly, nearly ten million tons of soybeans flooded the futures market, and the entire soybean price was immediately halved by $100.
The next day, it dropped another $100.
Four days later, soybean prices returned to a normal price of $300 per ton.
On the fifth day, over ten financial institutions and dozens of small soybean processing enterprises declared bankruptcy. Simultaneously, a large US grain enterprise announced a suspension of soybean purchases from the market until this year's soybean harvest.
It seemed they wouldn't be buying soybeans on the market for at least five to six months, as they still had warehouses full of soybeans to digest.
And then there was nothing else.
Ten days later, soybean prices fell below $200 per ton, reaching an unprecedented low in a decade. At the same time, a certain hand began to slowly acquire eight million tons of soybeans in the market. Of these, four million were lent out. These soybeans, sold for $2.5 billion, were all repaid for less than 800 million. Considering the interest involved, they earned nearly $1.5 billion.
When Boss Huang saw these financial reports, he carelessly tossed them aside and shook his head dismissively, saying, "Just a little money!"
Indeed, it was just a little money. After all, this $1.5 billion was less than a fraction of the amount from the previous oil operation. Earning this $1.5 billion took nearly a month and a half of trading, with immeasurable costs in manpower, resources, and finances.
The only good news was that this $1.5 billion belonged to Boss Huang's personal income. All the funds mobilized this time were Boss Huang's own. The Western Mustang Fund did not spend a single cent.
As for where the Western Mustang Fund's money was going?
Well, these funds had already begun to diversify their investments, including tech companies like Google, Amazon, Qualcomm, and Apple. In these companies, the Western Mustang Fund held considerable influence.
[There will be another chapter later, but it will be a bit late!]