Chapter 156: In-demand dyes
Xu Qiang was completely unaware of the factory's selection of model workers. After get off work that afternoon, he returned to the peat field and discovered that something seemed wrong.

Originally at this time, the workers at the peat field were still working, but at this moment, there was no one to be seen outside. Only wisps of smoke were coming from the mud house, and it was obvious that someone was cooking.

But when Xu Qiang walked into the yard, he suddenly realized.

It turned out that Erhu, who had been running business, finally came back.

"Uncle!" Seeing Xu Qiang, Erhu immediately came forward.

Previously, Xu Qiang asked Erhu to come back at least once a week, but Erhu obviously did not do so.

As the saying goes, a general is not subject to military orders when he is away from the battlefield. Erhu only sent a telegram to Xu Qiang, informing him that he was negotiating a key business and would not be back in the short term. Apart from that, there was no other contact.

Xu Qiang could understand this, but his only worry was that he had only brought 100 yuan for Erhu at the time, which included travel expenses, meals and accommodation. The daily expenses outside were not cheap, and he also had to give gifts and entertain guests. This amount of money was obviously not enough for Erhu to spend for a long time.

It wasn't until he saw Erhu come back today that Xu Qiang felt relieved.

I haven't seen Erhu for more than half a month. He has obviously lost some weight, but he looks in good spirits.

"How is it? How is your stay outside?" Xu Qiang asked with concern.

"It's OK, but I have to run back and forth every day, either by bus or train, and I'm almost sick of it." Erhu pouted and continued, "There's not a day I don't want to come back when I'm away. The food here is so good, sometimes I even dream about Da Hei Niu cooking for me..."

"Hahaha!" Hearing this, Xu Qiang burst into laughter.

"Uncle, let's go inside and talk."

"Row!"

Afterwards, Erhu and Xu Qiang went into the small house next door together.

This room is usually used for sleeping. At this moment, there was no one else inside except Xu Qiang and Erhu.

"This is the supply contract I signed with our Fuzhou Garment Factory..."

As soon as he entered the room, Erhu took out a contract from his arms and placed it in front of Xu Qiang.

"Is the deal really done?" When Xu Qiang saw the contract, his eyes suddenly lit up and he picked it up to read.

"I went to Fuzhou this time and visited several textile and garment factories, but the big factories were unwilling to receive us..." Erhu took a sip of water from his cup and continued, "I really had no choice but to ask around and wait until the leaders of their supply and marketing departments got off work before I could talk to them..."

"Why don't they receive us? We also have proof that we are a formal factory." Xu Qiang asked with some confusion.

"I didn't understand it before, but after I invited them to dinner, I found out what was going on." Erhu paused, then continued, "Big factories generally don't welcome village-run enterprises like ours. They have fixed procurement channels for all kinds of raw materials, and many materials are allocated by the state. They don't accept sales pitches from small factories at all..."

"So that's how it is." Hearing this, Xu Qiang suddenly understood.

Although the state has liberalized the operation of village-run enterprises and some private enterprises in the 1980s, overall, it is still an era of planned economy. The raw materials and materials of various large state-owned enterprises are uniformly allocated by the state, and the authority of enterprises to operate independently has not been fully liberalized.

"At that time, I spent more than ten yuan to treat the head of the supply and marketing department of the textile factory to a meal. I feel sad when I think of this..."

"Hahaha, that doesn't matter. As long as the deal can be done, I can get the money reimbursed." Xu Qiang said with a smile.

"But fortunately, the meal was not in vain. They showed me a way and told me to go to several garment factories around Fuzhou. Those factories also got their start by finding ways from their factory. The garment processing business must also require industrial dyes." Erhu took out a cigarette, handed one to Xu Qiang, lit one for himself, and then said: "Then I found these small garment factories according to the addresses they gave me..."

"Sure. Has the garment factory received you?" Xu Qiang asked with a smile.

"They were quite enthusiastic about me!" When he said this, Erhu looked excited and said, "When they learned that our factory could produce industrial dyes, their boss personally received me and invited me to have a drink. Then I showed them the samples, and they directly asked people to try dyeing clothes, and the results were quite good."

"So you just signed the contract with them directly?"

"No, mainly because I don't know what the market price of the dye is. When I invited the deputy chief of the supply and marketing department of the textile factory to dinner before, he told me a rough price of the dye. Different colors have different prices, but those are products of big factories, and their quality is better than ours. If we want to sell our products, we have to make them cheap." Er Hu took a puff of his cigarette and continued, "So later I found several other small garment factories around Fuzhou and asked them one by one. Only then did I find out the market price of the dye in our area. For example, the dye of a big factory costs one yuan, then the dye of a small factory like ours can only be sold for less than fifty cents at most. The price difference is exactly half!" "Yeah." Xu Qiang nodded when he heard it.

In fact, Xu Qiang had already anticipated the situation that Erhu described.

Township collective enterprises want to compete with state-owned enterprises for the market. Since they have no advantages in capital, technology or product quality, price is the only breakthrough.

Moreover, state-owned enterprises have always lacked trust in the product quality of township enterprises, especially the smallest village-run enterprises like Xuqiang. They simply don't look at them, and even if they are sold at cost price, these large state-owned enterprises dare not use them.

So when Erhu said that the dyes from his own factory were half the price of those from state-owned enterprises, this was actually higher than Xu Qiang had imagined.

In Xu Qiang's opinion, it would be good enough if their product prices could be one-third of those of large state-owned enterprises.

"I started to think that our dyes were so much cheaper than those of state-owned enterprises, and I was worried that I would lose money. However, since they can buy the products at this price, it shows that those small factories selling dyes must be profitable. Who would do something that doesn't make money? So I signed these contracts with them, all of which are payment upon receipt, but the minimum starting quantity is 200 kilograms..." Erhu said.

"You've done a great job this time!" Xu Qiang patted Erhu on the shoulder and said, "After we produce and deliver the dye this time, I'll give you a bonus. The more orders you get in the future, the higher the dividend bonus I'll give you!"

Xu Qiang and Erhu had already discussed the matter of bonuses and dividends. In order to encourage Erhu's enthusiasm, he had to give him some extra rewards.

"Oh, uncle, I spent a lot of money on this business trip. Now I only have 6.53 yuan left. The remaining tickets and other things are all here. Take a look..."

As Erhu spoke, he took out a handful of banknotes and a few coins from his pocket, as well as a stack of train and bus tickets tied up with rubber bands.

Seeing this scene, Xu Qiang was somewhat moved. Judging from the number of tickets, he really ran a lot this time.

What surprised Xu Qiang was that after spending so much on travel expenses, Erhu still had a few dollars left. You know, he was away for more than half a month, and he had to spend a lot of money every day on food and accommodation alone, especially accommodation. A better hotel would cost at least two or three dollars a day.

"How have you been spending the past few days? Didn't you stay in a hotel?" Xu Qiang asked.

"I stayed there for just one day. I had just gotten off the train that day and was unfamiliar with the area. So I followed your instructions and found a hotel far from the train station. Later, I found those garment factories in the towns and villages, and they arranged accommodation for me..."

"I see." Xu Qiang pondered for a moment, then continued, "Next time before you go out, I'll buy you some nice clothes. After all, you represent our factory, so you can't be so shabby. Also, if you don't have money, just come back and don't sleep outside. Big cities are full of people of all kinds, so safety comes first. Do you understand?"

"Got it." Erhu nodded.

"Then let's eat first." Xu Qiang did not take the money that Erhu took out, but only took the tickets. These tickets needed to be accounted for, and Liu Jun was the temporary accountant of the peat field.

"Oh, uncle, there is something else I want to tell you..."

"what's the situation?"

"Didn't I just say that I had dinner with the manager of the supply and marketing department of Fuzhou Textile Factory? He told me this story at the table..." Erhu put out the cigarette in his hand and said, "He said that there is a shortage of indigo powder in the domestic market. If our factory can produce this dye, they are willing to buy it at a high price..."

"Indigo powder?" Xu Qiang was stunned for a moment, then said, "Isn't that the dye for jeans?"

"Uncle, you even know this?" This time, Erhu was also surprised. He didn't expect Xu Qiang to know this kind of dye, so he continued:

"That's right, the leader of the supply and marketing department said the same thing. Jeans are currently selling very well in our country, and many young people in the city like to wear them. However, only a few manufacturers in the country can produce the dyes used to dye jeans. Due to limited production, supply has always been in short supply. Our textile factory in Fuzhou has already placed an order from a dye factory in Tianjin, but it is still being scheduled for production. However, many clothing factories have ordered jeans fabrics from their factory, so if we can produce them, the price will definitely be easy to negotiate!"

"Is this dye really in such short supply?" Xu Qiang's eyes lit up when he heard this and he asked repeatedly.

"This is absolutely true. Later, I went to discuss business with several other garment factories in Fuzhou and asked about this dye. They also said that this dye was in short supply, so they didn't produce any jeans this year. If we had it, they would also buy it at a high price!"

"This news is too important!" Xu Qiang patted Erhu on the shoulder and said with a smile: "I really made the right choice to let you be the salesperson."

"But uncle, I heard that this kind of dye is difficult to produce, and the few domestic manufacturers that can produce it keep the secret recipe strictly confidential. Do you think we can produce it?" Erhu said doubtfully.

"Everything is developed by people. If others can do it, why can't we do it?" Xu Qiang smiled and continued, "Instead of producing those unprofitable dyes, it is better to focus on the research and development of this indigo powder. However, the production of this kind of thing requires some related equipment. You can take a day off tomorrow, and I will give you an address the day after tomorrow, and you can help me buy the equipment!"

(End of this chapter)