Feng Yu spent the night with Elena again. The next day, the Russian delegates returned back to Russia. Feng Yu also did not ask what sort of agreements were signed with the Chinese Government. But Kirilenko told Feng Yu that he would increase his trade with Tai Hua Trading. This means the agreements did not affect Feng Yu.
Feng Yu stayed in Beijing for one more day before Tai Hua Agricultural products General Manager Zhang Ming came to meet him. He said he had something important to discuss with Feng Yu.
When Zhang Ming saw Feng Yu, he excitedly said: “Manager Feng, we have a great opportunity!”
“What opportunity? Why are you so excited?” Feng Yu frowned.
“Have you read the papers?” Zhang Ming pa.s.sed a copy of the newspaper to Feng Yu and pointed to a report.
Human Ham?
Feng Yu remembered the turning point of Qiudu Preserve Ham empire. Had it happened? If it weren’t for Zhang Ming telling him about this, he would have forgotten about it.
Qiudu was China and the world’s biggest preserve ham brand. It was extremely popular in China, and there was a period, where you could not even buy their ham even if you have the money. This ham was once Tai Hua Trading’s merchandise to be sold to Russia.
But a few days ago, someone reported Qiudu was using human flesh to make their ham. They claimed that they had evidence. It was the smoky taste in the ham, and some other people claims they had found fingernails, hair, etc., of human in the ham.
This was reported in the papers and the whole nation knew about it.
Suddenly, Qiudu’s preserved ham had turned from China’s top brand of ham into something everyone avoids. Not only they had no more orders, but the distributors and customers were also demanding for refunds.
But this was only a misunderstanding.
The truth was there was a fire in one of Qiudu’s cold storage. The insulation material in the cold room had foam and caused thick poisonous smoke. The 2500 tons of raw ingredients, pork, were all burnt. The total damage was more than 40 million RMB!
Qiudu Company’s leaders were afraid of taking responsibility for these damages. They reported to the City that it was only a small fire and only the storage facility was slightly damaged. Some minor repairs were required, and their losses were only about 360,000 RMB.
For a company like Qiudu, whose annual profits were more than 100 million, 360,000 RMB was nothing. Qiudu’s leaders tried to cover up their losses and thought this matter was over.
But the pork was all burnt, and they reported a smaller amount of losses. The company does not have enough funds to bring in fresh ingredients. So, the advisor of the company, a fortune teller, gave the stupidest advice.
This pork was only smoked. In the south, many people like smoked meat. This port can also be made into ham. Anyway, the pork will be minced, and no one will know.
So, the burnt pork which was also smoked by poisonous gas was mixed with fresh pork and made into ham and sold to the customers.
When the can of ham was opened, there was a smoky smell, and the color was different. There were even bits of bones in there.
Qiudu’s compet.i.tors immediately get people to report in the papers that Qiudu was selling human flesh ham. They also sent people to spread rumors that Qiudu had tied up with the local crematorium and used dead bodies for their ham. Even Qiudu’s employees dare not to eat their own products!
All the major papers in China reported on this incident and caused an uproar.
However, some people felt that these were all fake news. Qiudu was selling tons of ham every year. Even all the crematoriums in the province could not provide enough dead bodies to make tons of ham!
But most of the commoners believed in the rumors. They firmly believed that it was made from human remains. If not, why would the papers publish this report? The higher-ups had said that they only suspect Qiudu was using dead human remains. But for the commoners, it was a confirmation by the authorities.
The earliest people who started the rumors were from Qiudu company’s province. Who was the one who backstabbed Qiudu Company? It was not an outsider. It was another preserve ham company from the same province.
They started the rumors in the province and then spread it all over China. They make use of the newspaper and also bribed Qiudu’s distributors.
Based on the contracts between the distributors and Qiudu, if there were any issues with the ham, Qiudu has to compensate the distributors.
All the distributors knew there were issues with this batch of ham. At the same time, a preserve ham company from a nearby city approached them offering them discounts.
The taste of the ham was similar to Qiudu, but it was an unknown brand. The distributors start to order from this company as they will have higher profits with discounts.
When all the distributors start to ask for compensations, it added more woes to Qiudu. Their operations were halted, and the City Government was trying to salvage the situation. The government made a deal with the distributors for them to issue a statement in the papers stating that it was the quality of Qiudu’s ham that was affected and it was not made from human remains!
But the reputation of Qiudu’s brand was tarnished. In just 3 days, the whole nation knew about this incident and who would still buy their products? People don’t even want to buy any brand of ham.
Feng Yu put down the papers and looked at Zhang Ming. He asked Zhang Ming in a serious tone: “Manager Zhang, tell me. Are you involve in spreading this rumor?”
“Involve? Of course not! We do not even need to do anything. Those distributors had made use of those small stores to spread these rumors. You are not aware of this?”
d.a.m.n. I have been accompanying Kirilenko and Elena in the past two days. Where do I find the time to read papers?!
“Tell all our workers that no one is allowed for spreading this rumor! Human flesh? Crematorium? Who in the right mind would believe this? What is the opportunity you are saying just now?”
“This Qiudu is in deep trouble now, and the ham market is free up. We had started our production of Tai Hua Brand of ham last year. This is the best opportunity to expand our market share! You are close with the CCTV leaders. Can you tell them to change our advertis.e.m.e.nt?”
Tai Hua Ham was a product of Tian Peng pork. The weight, ingredients, price, etc. were almost the same as Qiudu. But it was currently only sold in the 3 provinces in the northeast and Russia. The sales volume cannot be compared with Qiudu.
It cannot even be compared to the other smaller brands of ham!
But Tai Hua Ham has an advantage, which was Tian Peng pigs. This brand of pork was the top choice of consumers. Almost the whole nation knew about this brand of pork.
This year, Zhang Ming had bought an advertising slot at CCTV to promote Tai Hua brand of animal feed. But now, he was thinking of changing it to Tai Hua Ham.
“The overall sales of ham this year will decline. Especially these few months. Why not we wait for this incident to be over first. This was indeed an opportunity for us. I believe you have already thought of a plan to take over the market. Don’t disappoint me. Don’t change the current advertis.e.m.e.nt. The current advertis.e.m.e.nt was aired only for a few days. If we change now, people will think there were some problems with our animal feed. You go and get people to shoot the commercial first. A 15 seconds commercial. It must tell the audience that we are using the top-quality Tian Peng Pork to make our ham. I will change another commercial to this new commercial in a few days.”
Feng Yu suddenly thought of a way to win both Qiudu and the other ham company. But first, he must let people know that it was this company, Danhui, that spread the rumors!