Chapter 307 - 156: Various Progress

Chapter 307: Chapter 156: Various Progress

In other words, the seeds from these 1,279 acres of Purple Alfalfa could be used to plant around another 120,000 acres.

In addition, the other farms, plus the Gannan Branch, had a combined total of nearly 5,000 acres of Purple Alfalfa that would soon mature in May and June, yielding enough grass seed to plant 600,000 acres.

By then, all the farms and the newly established Monan Branch would have a sufficient supply of Purple Alfalfa seeds.

Jiang Miao wasn’t too worried about the Purple Alfalfa seeds. After all, when harvested at maturity, the resulting grass seeds could expand the cultivation area a hundredfold.

In just a year or two, the supply would be more than enough for planting across the entire country.

This was the advantage of short-lived herbaceous plants; their propagation speed was extremely fast.

Past Yandun Mountain.

Then through Xinxiang.

By the roadside, all 50 buildings of the employee residential complex had been topped out. They were now undergoing interior rough-in work and exterior facade finishing.

Employees who had already reserved apartments had all opted for finished units and had chosen their design templates. Hailufeng Real Estate Company would handle the standardized renovations for them.

As for the unreserved apartments, only the exterior facades would be completed. Renovations would be done in batches as new employees placed their orders.

’Actually, the profit margin on this real estate project is decent. Even with high-end finishing, at a price of 7,500 yuan per square meter, there’s still a gross profit of 2,300 yuan.’

’Of that, the gross profit on the bare-bones unit is 1,800 yuan per square meter, and the gross profit on the renovations is 500 yuan per square meter.’

’However, after deducting taxes and factoring in some internal company write-offs, the final net profit per square meter is about 750 yuan, for a net profit margin of 10%.’

’If all 2,700 units were sold, the total profit would be over two hundred million yuan.’

Hailufeng Real Estate’s profits were a world away from Hailufeng Agriculture’s. After all, the latter’s eel fry business could generate over three hundred million in gross profit in a single month.

’As expected, monopolies are the most profitable industries.’

’If it weren’t for improving the employees’ quality of life and motivating them to work harder for the company, I wouldn’t have bothered with real estate development. It really isn’t that profitable these days.’

But not developing it wasn’t an option.

During the New Year holiday, Jiang Miao had already heard rumors that housing prices in nearby Jinting Bay were starting to recover.

If he didn’t want his employees working their fingers to the bone only to have their earnings siphoned away by real estate companies, then Hailufeng Company had no choice but to enter the ring itself. By providing its own employees with housing, it could suppress this trend.

’After all, those real estate companies aren’t a good bunch. If they take my employees’ money, it’ll leave a bad taste in my mouth, as if I’m the one working for them.’

’Rather than letting other real estate companies profit, it’s better for Hailufeng Company to build the houses itself. This way, we can not only recoup employee wages and bonuses for reinvestment into production, but also tie the employees more closely to the company.’

As for the local authorities, they didn’t have any objections either.

After all, someone was going to make the money one way or another. And if it were the big real estate developers, they wouldn’t keep their profits in the local area. Hailufeng Company, on the other hand, would.

Therefore, it was very simple for Hailufeng Real Estate Company to acquire local residential land.

On the other side of the highway, the Shanma Avenue upgrade and renovation project, which Hailufeng Company had previously funded, was also in full swing.

Because a large underground sewage pipe needed to be installed, the project was estimated to be completed around this year’s Mid-Autumn Festival.

The construction site across the highway was the Little Nanshan Headquarters.

Currently, Office Building One of the Little Nanshan Headquarters had reached 12 stories, with only 8 more to go before being topped out. It was expected to be topped out in mid-May, with renovations completed around August.

After airing out for two more months, they would be able to move into the new office building this October.

Past the Cheung Sha Wan Highway Entrance.

He entered the Red Grass Town area.

Before long, he arrived at the strawberry processing plant in Xihai Village.

As soon as he got close, a faint vanilla scent filled the air.

Even though the factory’s ventilation pipes were fitted with specialized filtering equipment, it was still impossible to filter out one hundred percent of the vanilla-flavored compounds from inside.

Fortunately, the smell wasn’t harmful to one’s health, nor was it a foul odor. The nearest houses were five to six hundred meters away, so by the time the vanilla scent drifted to the residential area, it had become very faint.

In contrast, the vanilla scent inside the adjacent strawberry greenhouses was extremely strong—so fragrant it was almost pungent. Smelling it for too long could cause dizziness and nausea.

To prevent the strong vanilla scent from escaping, the greenhouses were wrapped in several layers of plastic sheeting, and the ventilation systems were equipped with special deodorizing devices.

Even if one could smell the vanilla scent in the surrounding area, it was at a very pleasant concentration.

When Jiang Miao arrived at the factory, the manager of the strawberry processing plant, Xie Guangxia, was already waiting for him at the entrance.

"Guangxia, has the first batch of strawberry powder been produced?"

Xie Guangxia replied as he led the way, "Production started a week ago. We’ve produced five batches so far, for a total of five tons of strawberry powder."

Since the factory had already begun closed-environment production, Jiang Miao decided not to go inside and disturb the work. Instead, he went to the area behind the adjacent office building.

Behind the office building was the storage warehouse. Opening the warehouse doors revealed rows of tinplate drums inside. They were somewhat similar to the metal buckets used for latex paint, only much smaller.

"Boss, this is the strawberry powder we’ve produced. Each drum contains five kilograms."

"No smaller packaging?"

Xie Guangxia shook his head. "No. Although the factory has a production line for small packages, I believe very few individual customers will buy it initially. We’re targeting bakeries and ice cream factories first. Once we’ve established our sales channels, we can consider producing individual small packages."

"Mm, your reasoning is sound."

Jiang Miao then sampled the formulated strawberry powder. As expected, its fragrance concentration was nearly identical to that of natural vanilla.

To dilute its concentration and make it less "pungent," a full 2.43 times its weight in pre-gelatinized pure starch had been added, which is what made the powder’s scent seem natural.

Of course, this only applied to the smell. If you tasted it directly, the flavor was still so extremely strong and fragrant it would overwhelm the tongue to the point of nausea.

This was why the substance could only be used as a flavoring agent.

"What are the sales department’s plans for selling it?"

Xie Guangxia scratched his head. "They’re planning to invite ice cream companies from all over Lingnan for a tasting in a few days and then pitch it to them."