“What? You’re telling me the Chinese procurement group is stuck again!” Kraft’s eyes nearly bulged out of his head.
“Yes, it seems it will be delayed by another two or three days this time!” Hack said expressionlessly. It wasn’t that he was emotionless, but he had been dealing with such news for too long and was almost immune.
“Do you think the Chinese are deliberately playing games with us? That this procurement group doesn't actually want to purchase anything!” Kraft proposed a rather grim guess.
“No, that’s not possible!” Hack, who had been very cautious before, shook his head this time.
“Why are you so sure?”
“Because it’s not someone else blocking the procurement group, it’s our own people!” Hack stated calmly. “It’s U.S. Customs. They stopped the procurement group from entering the U.S. They are currently stranded at the airport.”
“Why? Why were they stopped out of the blue? Did they tamper with their passports or visas?” Kraft asked.
“No, it has nothing to do with those things. In fact, Customs hasn’t even told me the reason for stopping the Chinese delegation yet. They don’t seem to have found any contraband either.” Hack replied.
“Doesn’t that precisely indicate there’s a problem?” Kraft retorted.
“No, this year, about 20% of Chinese nationals are being detained at customs for various reasons, also without any explanation. If a reason must be given, it’s probably because the customs officer had a fight with their spouse that day and got held up at customs. It’s quite normal,” Hack’s words left Kraft speechless.
“These people are simply lawless! Do they have any respect for U.S. law?” Kraft berated, as if he himself had utmost respect for the law.
Of course, this anger was for naught. Subsequently, Kraft and others began to secretly intervene, putting pressure on Customs. Finally, these customs officials felt the pressure and obediently let the procurement group, which had been held up, go. However, this caused another day’s delay.
After that, there seemed to be no more unexpected issues. The procurement group arrived at the futures trading center as scheduled and began their earnest concentrated bargaining and procurement task.
This made Kraft and Hack heave a sigh of relief. They eagerly began to instruct their representatives to contact the procurement group, preparing to sell all their soybean inventory to the group.
They had even prepared the conference rooms needed for procurement negotiations.
However, they waited and waited, but the procurement group never showed up. By that evening, someone from below rushed in to report that all the representatives of the Chinese procurement group had been intercepted and taken away by someone else.
“What!” Kraft and the others were stunned by this news. Someone else was actually trying to approach the Chinese procurement group? Did that mean other financial institutions were planning to take advantage of these fools? If so, what did their current high-priced acquisition of soybeans mean?
This news threw Kraft and the others’ alliance into a panic. However, they were certain that, apart from them, there would be no other force in the market capable of storing such a large volume of soybean orders.
Although there were still three to four million tons of soybeans not in their hands, they were very familiar with the holders of these orders. These were the ones who had accepted those who were shorting and sold their soybeans to those institutions for shorting purposes… These people had already formed a tacit understanding with them in secret, and would not interfere with this “muggle-eating” operation. How could an inexplicable force suddenly appear?
This matter dragged on until the next day. The nerves of several financial institutions within the alliance were stretched to the extreme. They even had the urge to flee, unwilling to continue driving up the price of soybeans.
Fortunately, at this moment, Kraft and Hack managed to stabilize morale. They both called all their allies, telling them that now was definitely not the time to give up, because abandoning now would mean suffering huge losses.
After all, the average holding cost was no longer just over $300, but had risen to $417. If they gave up now, everyone would lose more than 30%, a loss sufficient for their bosses to demand their lives.
Moreover, the Chinese procurement group was merely in contact with other institutions, which did not mean any procurement agreements had been signed. Everything still needed to be clarified further!
Under the persuasion of these two, the alliance finally stabilized somewhat. At the same time, the people they sent out to investigate finally brought back a result that made Kraft and the others’ smiles stiffen.
It turned out that the group that intercepted the procurement group had offered a price $20 per ton lower than the current market price to trade with the procurement group, and stated they had as much as 4 million tons of soybeans. Therefore, the procurement group directly began to engage with these people, completely ignoring the alliance’s representatives. After all, a discount of $20 per ton meant $80 million for 4 million tons, a temptation no one could refuse!
“We were intercepted by these guys? Didn’t I order you to contact the Chinese immediately?” Upon receiving this intelligence, Kraft thoroughly berated his subordinates, and then ordered his confidants to investigate. The result was one that made Kraft want to kill.
It turned out that the situation of being intercepted in advance was due to Kraft’s allies acting on their own initiative, believing that to reach a deal, they should negotiate with the other party from a condescending position to force the Chinese procurement group to accept their prices and terms.
The best way to create a condescending posture was to make the Chinese procurement group suffer in the futures market, making it difficult for them to find anyone willing to engage in concentrated bargaining, repeatedly hitting walls. Then, when the alliance expressed its willingness to engage in concentrated bargaining, the procurement group would obediently comply and lose the game of negotiating with the alliance.
This tactic couldn’t be said to be wrong. If it were Kraft, he would have done the same. After all, making money, no matter the means, was natural. Besides, there truly was no second institution in the market holding such a large volume of soybean orders.
However, despite all their calculations, they never expected a new institution to suddenly emerge, willing to sell 4 million tons of soybeans at a price $20 cheaper. This truly dealt a heavy blow to the entire alliance.
Then, the alliance began to falter again. Because if the suddenly appearing force was real and indeed possessed 4 million tons of soybeans, then the alliance was likely doomed and would suffer immense losses. It would be better to start selling in advance, so as to be the survivor among the fallen.
Kraft and Hack could only continue to reassure everyone, then present facts and reason, explaining that there was no second force in the market holding so many soybeans. After all, the world’s soybeans were under their control, so there couldn’t be such a hidden mastermind that suddenly appeared.
Did they think this was a novel or a movie, where an invincible antagonist, who happened to be hidden in the shadows and unknown to anyone, would appear from time to time?
These people were probably a bunch of scammers, and they needed time to investigate.
Thus, the alliance employed all their means and power to investigate these suddenly appearing individuals.
After another day of such turmoil, the results came out. These people were indeed bloody scammers!
In the futures market, there had always been such a group of people. These people possessed nothing but eloquent tongues, were very familiar with the entire market, dressed impeccably, lived in the most luxurious five-star hotels in the city, occupied entire floors of offices in top-tier buildings, and frequently frequented high-end clubs. Most importantly, they had connections with internal personnel in the futures management market.
Therefore, even though these people were heavily indebted, they could still create the image of capital tycoons and then deceive newcomers and novices who knew nothing about the futures market.
Take the suddenly appearing Chinese procurement group this time, which was entirely composed of Chinese people who only had a superficial understanding of the futures market. They practically had the words “I am a leek” written on their faces.
Thus, these scammers immediately targeted these Chinese people. Using their various practiced pretentiousness techniques, and by secretly taking them into the futures market warehouses to show them warehouses full of soybeans, they immediately made these Chinese representatives believe that they were merchants holding a large quantity of soybeans.
In fact, the soybeans in these warehouses were indeed prepared to be sold to the Chinese, but these soybeans did not belong to these individuals, but to the alliance. The scammers showed the alliance’s soybeans to the Chinese procurement group, and then attempted to swindle a deposit from the Chinese procurement group.
That’s right, these scammers only intended to swindle a deposit, and not a small one at that, around $200 million.
These scammers stated that as long as the Chinese procurement group paid a $200 million deposit, they would not only sell at a reduced price of $20 per ton, but would also allow the Chinese procurement group to load all the soybeans onto ships and take them away first. They could pay after the soybeans arrived at the Chinese port.
The Chinese heard this and thought, “This is great! Such a good deal!” So they proceeded as if they had reached an agreement with these people and intended to pay the $200 million deposit.
Of course, once the $200 million deposit was paid, these well-dressed scammers would instantly disappear without a trace. As for whether there were soybeans to be loaded, it would be of no concern to them. They could live freely with $200 million!