Chapter 409: Deep Processing

Chapter 409 -190: Deep Processing

Jiang Miao could see this clearly from the sales figures of the company’s brick-and-mortar stores.

Therefore, for the future of the soybean deep-processing industry, the problem Jiang Miao needed to consider was how to maintain high corporate revenue while also ensuring employee income and benefits.

As for ordinary products like soybean protein powder, regular animal feed, and soybean cooking oil, aside from being self-sufficient in some areas, it would be difficult to compete with other domestic companies.

In terms of plant protein, Hailufeng Company’s own farms and specialty feed mills would certainly not be able to consume it all.

“Zhiben, how much empty land is left at this soybean deep-processing base?”

Liu Zhiben was stunned for a moment by his boss’s sudden question, then replied, “There are still about 2,000 mu reserved for future deep-processing industries.”

Jiang Miao immediately gave his order, “Alright then. Have the engineering company contracted for the factory’s infrastructure create a design plan for an artificial silk factory. The area should be 500 mu, with a designed annual output of 2 million tons of artificial silk.”

Upon hearing this, Liu Zhiben quickly voiced his opinion, “Artificial silk? Boss, with all due respect, the technology to make artificial silk from soybean protein is already very mature. Whether it’s viscose fiber, cupro fiber, or acetate fiber, many domestic manufacturers are already producing it. If we enter this market, I’m afraid it will be very difficult to sell an output of 2 million tons.”

“I know.” Jiang Miao understood the domestic artificial silk situation even better than Liu Zhiben, as he had already reviewed the relevant materials.

In fact, it was precisely because he knew this that he chose the artificial silk industry.

“I’ll have the research center establish another institute dedicated to researching soybean protein artificial silk. They will try to modify the soybean protein to create an artificial silk with properties nearly identical to natural silk.”

“Is that so?” Liu Zhiben fell into deep thought. He knew the company’s R&D capabilities were formidable, but that didn’t mean they were invincible. So he still offered a cautious suggestion, “Boss, I don’t think we need to be in such a hurry. It wouldn’t be too late to build the factory after the technology has been developed.”

However, Jiang Miao shook his head. “You still don’t understand biotechnology well enough. The key bottleneck preventing soybean protein from becoming a silk-mimicking artificial silk… If we continue to improve upon the traditional technological path for artificial silk, the difficulty is naturally immense. But if the properties of the soybean protein itself are changed to become similar to silk protein, then the difficulty of making artificial silk will plummet.”

“…” It was only then that Liu Zhiben remembered his boss was a top-tier biologist.

Just as Jiang Miao had said, trying to imitate natural silk using the traditional artificial silk route was extremely difficult, and the cost would certainly be very high, especially in the initial stages of production.

But by using gene-editing technology to fundamentally alter the protein composition and structure of soybean protein, making it form a composition and structure highly similar to natural silk, the production difficulty would be even lower than that of ordinary artificial silk.

Moreover, this artificial silk had several other benefits. First, it had better biocompatibility and was less likely to cause allergies. Second, it could be degraded by microorganisms and sunlight, so it wouldn’t form microplastic particles. And finally, it was less durable than synthetic fibers, which would increase consumer purchase frequency.

As long as the soybean protein artificial silk could achieve properties similar to natural silk, coupled with its added environmental value, it could certainly snatch a large piece of the market from the jaws of the synthetic fiber industry.

After all, the total amount of synthetic fiber used in textiles globally each year was around 50 million tons.

If soybean protein artificial silk could capture one-fifth of that market, its volume could reach tens of millions of tons.

What’s more, this product would be a powerful weapon against Europe. From wearing comfort to environmental friendliness, every aspect would strike at the heart of Old Europe’s weaknesses.

All they had to do was hire a batch of online shills to go to Europe and America and constantly hype up the dangers of microplastics and environmental pollution from synthetic fibers. This would boost the environmental credentials of the soybean protein artificial silk.

However, after some thought, Jiang Miao felt that even if this genetically modified soybean variety was successfully developed, it wouldn’t be suitable for selling as seeds.

He knew all too well the race-to-the-bottom mentality of domestic companies.

Once soybean protein artificial silk could imitate natural silk, related companies would definitely engage in a frantic race to the bottom, eventually driving the market to a point where no one could make money.

This was an outcome he absolutely could not tolerate.

Therefore, he looked up and instructed Liu Zhiben, “Put the artificial silk plan on hold for now. The Monan Branch won’t be responsible for this.”

Liu Zhiben was completely baffled by Jiang Miao’s sudden change of mind, but he still nodded. “Understood.”

The reason Jiang Miao put the project on hold wasn’t that the technology was unachievable, but that it was impossible to maintain secrecy in Zhelimu City, where the Monan Branch was located. The area was a hub of transportation. With tens of millions of mu of soybean fields, someone could easily sneak a few beans, and it would be impossible to prevent.

Although the government would surely be willing to cooperate with Hailufeng Company and strictly prohibit other domestic companies from unauthorized production, foreign companies wouldn’t be so obedient. They could easily plant it secretly in their own countries.

For example, on the sparsely populated Australian Continent, they could easily set up a dozen or two isolated planting zones in the interior, making it difficult for Jiang Miao’s root rot fungus to paralyze all the soybean fields in a short time.

Therefore, he had to choose a planting area that was isolated from the rest of the world.

Fortunately, there was no shortage of such places within the country.

He had two places in mind: one was the heart of the Taklamakan Desert, and the other was the end of the Shiyang River, between the Tengger and Badan Jiling Deserts.

From a geographical standpoint, the end of the Shiyang River was the better option. Plus, COFCO Group had a planned Immortal Soybeans cultivation area there. Hailufeng Company could lease an area from COFCO Group to establish an isolated cultivation zone and an artificial silk industrial base, ensuring that not a single bean or leaf got out.

Monopolizing high-quality artificial silk would not only allow Hailufeng Company to make a fortune, but it would also save a large part of the domestic apparel industry.

Currently, much of the business for domestic clothing factories had been lost to Southeast Asia and the South Asia Region. This included many domestic apparel companies that had invested in Southeast Asia themselves.

As a labor-intensive industry, the apparel industry once provided a huge number of jobs.

To achieve industrial upgrading, they had to monopolize the source of high-quality artificial silk and lock the technology within the country. This would prevent those clothing factory owners from migrating the artificial silk apparel industry to Southeast Asia.

The low-end apparel industry was already irretrievably lost, so they had to at least try to rescue the mid- to high-end apparel industry. They had to save whatever they could.

Besides, the gross margin of the mid- to high-end apparel industry was relatively high, enough to keep up with the rising wages in the country.