Volume 7 Chapter 70 - Donât Get Involved
The matter didn’t end there.
After four months of the Frestech Mineral Chamber of Commerce being formed, the Marlow Empire’s biggest mineral resource company, the Vale Chamber of Commerce worked with thirty six other mineral resource companies to announce that they had formed a mineral resource organization just like the Jino Union. It would be called the Valley Mineral Planning a.s.sociation, or simply put, the Valley a.s.sociation.
The Vale Chamber of Commerce controlled the most mineral resources in the Marlow Empire. Then adding in the other thirty six mineral resource companies, they controlled almost all the mineral resources in the northern continent.
Although they had less mineral resources compared to the Jino Union, it wasn’t that lacking.
This Valley a.s.sociation’s goal was even more obvious compared to the Frestech Mineral Chamber of Commerce, it was simply to contend with the Jino Union.
It was different from the Frestech Mineral Chamber of Commerce that everyone thought was weaker. The Valley a.s.sociation had gathered all the mineral resources in the northern countries, which was strong enough to match the Jino Union.
Moreover, behind these two organizations, there was no doubt that there was a clash between the Marlow Empire and the Candra Empire.
But before this, if the two empires clashed with each other, the other countries and organizations could only choose a side to support and couldn’t make a single sound. But this time, the Frestech Chamber of Commerce had stood out to form the Frestech Mineral Chamber of Commerce, which really was a different voice.
For many people, they hoped that the Frestech Mineral Chamber of Commerce could contend with the Jino Union and the Valley a.s.sociation, which would greatly help many small countries.
But for most people, they didn’t favour the Frestech Mineral Chamber of Commerce at all.
Even if there was the Frestech Chamber of Commerce behind the Frestech Mineral Chamber of Commerce who were very powerful on the Sines Continent, with even the two great empires being wary of them.
Being wary didn’t mean they were afraid. The two empires had scruples before because they wanted to cooperate with the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, so they weren’t willing to break relations with them.
So that didn’t mean that the Frestech Chamber of Commerce really was more powerful than the two empires.
In the end, the Frestech Chamber of Commerce was only a company. The various resources that they controlled couldn’t compare to the resources of the two empires.
Even if the Frestech Mineral Chamber of Commerce grasped more resources than people expected, to compete with two organizations that had the two empires and many countries behind them, they were far from being able to do so.
People had to wait to see how long the Frestech Mineral Chamber of Commerce would last.
July of year 3781, it was the hottest season of the year again and the Frestech Mineral Chamber of Commerce suddenly announced that with the new breakthrough in automation smelting, the output of the Frestech Mineral Chamber of Commerce’s steel mills would greatly increase. It would break through to six hundred thousand tons a month.
This output was close to double that of the three hundred to four hundred thousand tons per month from before!
The Frestech Mineral Chamber of Commerce had also announced that with this increase in output, the Frestech Mineral Chamber of Commerce would be able to sell even more steel products. They welcomed all other companies that needed steel products to order from them.
Half a month ago, the Jino Union had just announced that through the efforts of the companies under them, through their own research, they had developed a new series of steel refining equipment. It was expected to be spread across the companies under the Jino Union which would greatly increase the steel product production capacity of the Jino Union.
According to estimates, once the companies under the Jino Union had replaced their steel refining equipment, the Jino Union would be able to break through to thirty million tons of steel products a year.
Comparing this, the Frestech Mineral Chamber of Commerce’s six hundred thousand tons of steel products was tiny.
But the Frestech Chamber of Commerce was the first company with a steel mill and the first company to implement steel refining, so they had already developed many different kinds of steel products. They currently had seventeen different kinds of steel products under them which could satisfy all special requirements for steel.
Even if the Frestech Chamber of Commerce had transferred parts of the steel refining technology later on, as well as selling steel refining equipment, everyone had to acknowledge that the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s steel products were the best and had the highest quality.
So even if the Frestech Mineral Chamber of Commerce’s production capacity couldn’t compare to the Jino Union’s, it was still very popular and countless orders came in.
It had to be known, the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s steel products were mainly used by themselves to satisfy their magic machine production needs, it was rarely ever sold to others.
Now that the Frestech Chamber of Commerce was willing to sell these steel products, people rushed to s.n.a.t.c.h them up.
In the beginning of September, the Frestech Mineral Chamber of Commerce published some data.
According to their stats, the Frestech Mineral Chamber of Commerce’s steel product production capacity had broken through to eight hundred thousand tons in August, which was a 30% increase.
Of these eight hundred thousand tons, three hundred thousand tons had been used to satisfy the needs of the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s companies and then the other five hundred thousand tons were sold to the public.
At the same time, the Frestech Mineral Chamber of Commerce also announced that they had reached an agreement with seven countries including the Nozdormu Business Union and the Wales Kingdom to buy a total of twelve mines. There were four iron mines, three non-ferrous metal mines, and five Magic Crystal mines.
When this news came out, there was another uproar.
Everyone thought that with the control of the Jino Union and the Valley a.s.sociation, there wouldn’t be any other minerals to fight for on the continent. However, the Frestech Mineral Chamber of Commerce had made a move and they had gotten twelve mines at once.
Although they still couldn’t compare to the two big mineral resource unions, it meant that the Frestech Chamber of Commerce wasn’t powerless to fight back. It meant that the two mineral resource unions didn’t completely control the Sines Continent.
Once this news was published, everyone began feeling more confident about the Frestech Mineral Chamber of Commerce.
However, the Jino Union and the Valley a.s.sociation quickly fought back.
At the end of September, the Jino Union once again raised the price of iron ore, breaking through to four gold coins per ton.
This price increase was quite subtle.
Because even if the Frestech Mineral Chamber of Commerce controlled several iron mines, their main business was steel products and refining non-ferrous metals. When it came to mineral collection, they lacked the manpower and previous acc.u.mulation, so it wasn’t enough to satisfy the demand of the Frestech Mineral Chamber of Commerce themselves.
So the Frestech Mineral Chamber of Commerce actually bought many of their ores for smelting from other channels. The biggest channel was from the companies under the Jino Union.
So now that the Jino Union had increased the price of iron ores, it would increase the cost of the Frestech Mineral Chamber of Commerce’s steel products.
Moreover, four gold coins a ton would mean that the Frestech Mineral Chamber of Commerce’s profits from refining iron ores would be very small, or it could even considered without profits at all.
At the same time, the Jino Union had adjusted the price of their steel products. They had decreased the price by 20%, so that the price of each ton was less than twenty gold coins.
With this price, it could be said that the Jino Union’s profits from refining steel were very slim.
The most important thing was that there was a clear advantage when compared to the steel products prices of the Frestech Chamber of Commerce which were between twenty seven and thirty gold coins.
Three days after the Jino Union announced this price adjustment, the Valley a.s.sociation had announced their price adjustment plan that followed the price adjustment of the Jino Union.
This wasn’t something that the two organizations had discussed, it was just that after the Jino Union made this adjustment, the Valley a.s.sociation could only follow along or they would be put in the pa.s.sive situation.
But everyone knew that the Jino Union’s price change wasn’t to force the Valley a.s.sociation to follow along, but rather it was to target the Frestech Mineral Chamber of Commerce.
The Frestech Mineral Chamber of Commerce, or rather the Frestech Chamber of Commerce didn’t have the same acc.u.mulated resources, so they were weaker when it came to mining ores. So when the ores provided was controlled by others, the Jino Union would change the ore price.
The advantage that the Frestech Mineral Chamber of Commerce had was in steel smelting. The Jino Union didn’t hesitate to decrease their price even if it meant cutting down their profits. It was clear that they wanted to force the Frestech Mineral Chamber of Commerce to lower their price, which would suppress their profits.
This wasn’t a plot, it was quite an open plan. It was to use their bigger scale compared to the Frestech Mineral Chamber of Commerce and their deeper foundations to beat them.
The goal was to expel the Frestech Mineral Chamber of Commerce from the mineral resource industry.
To the Jino Union, the appearance of the Valley a.s.sociation wasn’t a surprise, but this Frestech Mineral Chamber of Commerce was an unexpected variable.
Moreover, the strength of the Valley a.s.sociation and the Jino Union were around the same, so this deadlock wouldn’t be solved for a while. The more urgent matter was to drive out the pest of the Frestech Mineral Chamber of Commerce before dealing with the Valley a.s.sociation.
This goal was very clear and the Jino Union had even stated it publicly at one of their press conferences. They stated that the Frestech Chamber of Commerce should honestly stay in the magic machine industry that they excelled in and not get involved in other industries that don’t belong to them.
The response of the Frestech Chamber of Commerce to this…..There was no response this time.