Market Reaction

November arrived.

Hai Lu Feng Company's eel fry finally stirred a reaction in the market.

After all, since October, Hai Lu Feng Company had gradually released 22.8 million Glass Eels onto the domestic market over a month and a half, and it was still continuing to expand its output.

Everyone knew that eel fry were caught from June to August each year. It was already November, yet Glass Eels were still being sold. This immediately caught the attention of some eel fry cultivation companies.

In particular, eel fry cultivation companies in Southern Fujian and Lingnan quickly ordered a batch of Glass Eels from Hai Lu Feng Company's sales representatives.

In Goose City, Pearl River Delta.

At a company specializing in raising Glass Eels and then selling elver eel fry, the owner and technicians fell silent as they looked at the Glass Eel farming manual in their hands, along with the ten kilograms of Glass Eels and three hundred kilograms of Sea Snow Feed.

"They really are Glass Eels, and 0.1-gram Glass Eels at that. I never expected the feed formula we worked so hard to develop to become obsolete overnight." The owner smiled bitterly.

The technician, Lao Dong, also looked helpless. "I inspected several nearby farms that purchased Glass Eels and found Hai Lu Feng Company's formula to be incredibly effective. It can guarantee a 95% survival rate for Glass Eels."

"Dad, what do we do now?" The owner's son looked anxious.

Their company had always relied on raising Glass Eels and selling elver eel fry. Now, the farms buying Hai Lu Feng Company's Glass Eels all had a copy of Glass Eel Farming Technology, so they had no need for their elver eel fry at all.

The owner, Zhang Xinming, shook his head. "Don't panic. Judging from Hai Lu Feng Company's delivery schedule, they have most likely mastered artificial eel breeding technology. We can't compete with them in the domestic market."

"This is cutthroat competition." The young Zhang Bin immediately lost his composure.

Zhang Xinming was somewhat disappointed by his son's reaction. "You're still too young. What's the use of shouting and raging here now?"

"But..."

Zhang Xinming narrowed his eyes. "We still have one path left. A Bin, go to Japan immediately. Didn't Kagoshima Eel Company want to buy elvers from us before? Negotiate with them and use the price they offered previously."

"Dad, you mean sell the elvers to the Japanese?"

"That's right. Glass Eels aren't easy to transport, since they require specialized equipment and feed. Elvers, on the other hand, are relatively easy to transport. Not many people have probably discovered Hai Lu Feng Company's artificial eel breeding technology yet. We need to seize this opportunity to develop markets in Japan, Ryukyu, and South Goryeo."

Zhang Xinming soon had someone place another order with Hai Lu Feng Company for one hundred kilograms of Glass Eels.

Clearly, Zhang Xinming was very shrewd. He had already guessed that Hai Lu Feng Company's current production capacity was insufficient.

The domestic market alone required over a hundred tons of Glass Eels every year. There was no need for him to compete with Hai Lu Feng Company domestically. Instead, he could take a different path, use Hai Lu Feng Company's Glass Eels to raise elvers, and export them to Japan and elsewhere by taking advantage of the difficulty of transporting Glass Eels.

As for stealing Hai Lu Feng Company's artificial eel breeding technology, Zhang Xinming knew his own limits. He had tried artificial eel breeding before and lost more than two million.

Moreover, he knew that many Japanese research institutions and companies were also working on artificial eel breeding projects, yet they had never made much progress.

Thus, he subconsciously believed that Hai Lu Feng Company's technology had to be anything but simple, and that the upfront investment might be extremely high. With only tens of millions in assets, he could not afford to play with high technology.

Clearly, this preconceived notion caused Zhang Xinming to miss an opportunity.

If he had acted now and secretly bribed some employees at Hai Lu Feng Company's farms, he could have uncovered certain secrets.

Meanwhile.

Inside Hai Lu Feng Company's Sales Department office.

When Li Zhou saw the sudden order for one hundred kilograms of Glass Eels, he did not take it lightly. Instead, he called the salesperson responsible for the order to ask about it.

He soon learned that the order came from an eel fry cultivation company.

This immediately put him in a difficult position. Feeling that the matter was important, Li Zhou did not dare make the decision on his own and hurriedly called Jiang Miao.

Jiang Miao, who was inspecting farmland in South Lake Village, saw that it was Li Zhou calling and answered. "Li Zhou, what's the matter?"

"Boss, we received a large order for one hundred kilograms of Glass Eels today. I checked, and the other party is an eel fry cultivation company in Goose City. Should we cancel this order?"

Jiang Miao thought for a moment. "There's no need to refuse. Deliver the goods to them."

"Understood."

The main reason Jiang Miao did not refuse was that regardless of what the other party intended to do, Hai Lu Feng Company held the first-mover advantage.

Rejecting the order now would instead make people think Hai Lu Feng Company had something to hide.

One day later.

After receiving the fry and feed, Zhang Xinming secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

He had already prepared himself for the other party to refuse.

He had not expected Hai Lu Feng Company to deliver the goods to his door the very next day.

This made Zhang Xinming put away his other little schemes as well. Since the other party did not care that his company cultivated eel fry, it meant Hai Lu Feng Company was fully confident.

November 23.

Zhang Bin, who had flown overnight to Kagoshima Prefecture in Japan several days earlier, had already finalized the contract with Kagoshima Eel Company.

Fortunately, he had studied in Japan before, so he only brought two employees and came straight to Kagoshima Prefecture.

Kagoshima Eel Company's president had not expected to be able to purchase a batch of elver eel fry, especially with winter approaching.

However, Kagoshima Eel Company's president did not think too deeply about it. He assumed Zhang's company had run into trouble and needed money to keep its cash flow moving.

The two sides agreed that Zhang's Fishery Seedling Company would sell four hundred kilograms of fry to Kagoshima Eel Company at two thousand dollars per kilogram of elvers, roughly two thousand fish per kilogram, for a total price of eight hundred thousand dollars.

To prevent the Japanese from backing out, Zhang Bin deliberately raised the contractual penalty for breach.

Kagoshima Eel Company believed it had gotten a huge bargain by securing four hundred kilograms of fry at that price, so it did not overthink matters and swiftly signed the contract.

At the same time.

Hai Lu Feng Company's eel fry finally began affecting eel fry market prices.

However, the current market price still remained at twenty-seven thousand yuan per kilogram.

After all, the domestic market alone needed one hundred tons of Glass Eels each year. Including the international market, Hai Lu Feng Company's current capacity was clearly not enough to cause eel fry prices to collapse.

Before the end of November arrived.

Several domestic eel fry cultivation companies had all caught on, and their responses varied.

Some, like Zhang Xinming, planned to use borrowed hens to lay their eggs.

Others gave up competing and switched to farming eels themselves.

Still others began working as middlemen.

Yet no one set their sights on breeding technology. Clearly, the impression left by the extreme difficulty of eel breeding technology still lingered in their minds.

This also meant that Hai Lu Feng Company's batch of eel fry scheduled for release at the end of the month had been completely reserved before it was even hatched.

The 15.2 million Glass Eels sold in November brought in a total of 39.97 million yuan, at an average price of 2.63 yuan per eel.

From September until now, the company had sold a total of 38 million Glass Eels, generating total sales revenue of 100.32 million yuan.

It was estimated that sales revenue could reach 140 million yuan before the end of the year.

This revenue had already covered the company's previous costs for the New Breeding Base, real estate purchases, and the leasing of fishponds and farmland.

This year's net profit was estimated to reach 100 million yuan, though that was before deducting the 35% individual income tax.