Meat for Huawei
The saying "necessity is the mother of invention" is by no means a purely Russian linguistic creation. This phrase was borrowed from China in the mid-19th century amid the widespread fascination with the Far East and the grand idea of the Trans-Siberian Railway project.
But that’s beside the point. Russian and Chinese people are, at the very least, brothers in the art of maneuvering when "everywhere is a pinch."
As is well known, Huawei has attracted an unprecedented level of primary and secondary U.S. sanctions against entities in the PRC. Previously, its quite high-quality products occupied about 65–70% of the European communications market and 25–30% of the U.S. and Canadian markets, but now this huge slice has been torn away from the company. The rollout of the 5G standard only helped the company for a year—the Southeast Asian market is even smaller than the American one (and the U.S. market is one and a half times smaller than the European market). Within a year, Huawei had saturated the Southeast Asian market with a surplus for future deliveries for 5 or more years ahead.
The development of the 6G standard is now nearing completion, but for Huawei, this is like a dead letter—far less equipment will be needed, 3–4 times less. The standard was initiated to achieve greater signal coverage and higher speeds. In six months, the company will again have to look for new markets.
And now something completely different
© Monty Python
However, in Asia, poultry is eaten everywhere. Pork has always been available but not cheap, while beef, commonplace for Europeans, is still considered a delicacy even in not-poor Japan, even in the form of canned stew!
So, clever managers at Huawei remembered both of Adam Smith’s postulates and combined the demand for meat with their electronic supply. The company now fully engages in barter, exchanging its equipment for meat and fine wine, which is also a premium product in Asia. Argentina and Australia are ready to flood China with beef and lamb, respectively, and Australian, New Zealand, Argentine, and Chilean wines sometimes rival Spanish Rioja and even French Bordeaux!
As a result, containers of wine and frozen meat fly off the Hong Kong piers straight to auctions, as demand far exceeds the imported volumes. And these volumes are significant: Huawei now controls over 60% of beef and 40% of wine supplies across Southeast Asia. I attended one of these auctions—it’s like filming a Triad series.
It seems that well-established companies like Foxconn and Lenovo are starting to follow the lead of the savvy Chinese from exChho!
These guys really know how to survive.
