Chapter 348: The Beginnings of the Sugar and Paper Industries
"On average, yes," Zhou Haoran said with a smile. "But in reality, the number of buyers is a bit lower—many people bought multiple cans in one go."
Yang Wendong nodded. "That just means there's still a large group of people who haven't bought yet. It all depends on the long-term quality of our herbal tea—and how well your marketing and operations go."
For beverages and snacks, once the taste was right and the promotion solid, the market was just a matter of time.
"Understood," Zhou Haoran replied. "But Hong Kong's beverage consumption power is still far behind the West, and our production capacity is much higher than local demand. So next week, I plan to send a batch to Taiwan and use the local channels to see how the product performs."
"Good. We'll rely primarily on overseas markets," Yang Wendong agreed. Then he asked, "How's the cooperation with Pepsi going?"
"I'm preparing to begin a test run of canned Pepsi—about 50,000 bottles for the first batch," Zhou Haoran said. "Pepsi will test the taste and quality. If there are no issues, they'll start the initial contract manufacturing with us.
As for a full-scale partnership, they'll only consider it after all those checks are complete. Big companies have their processes, after all."
"Understandable," Yang Wendong nodded. "Let's take it one step at a time. What about our sugar refinery?"
Cooperating with multinational companies always required caution. Even Yang Wendong, as a time traveler, wouldn't rush into overseas factory investments lightly. His first pick was always Taiwan—close by, and familiar. Only when his influence grew strong enough would he consider venturing into Southeast Asia, forming alliances with local players to mitigate risks.
Zhou Haoran answered, "Construction is underway. The first phase isn't too big—annual capacity is around 10,000 tons. Think of it as a training project, to build our technical expertise and train personnel.
Once Pepsi starts giving us more orders or if our own beverage sales take off, we can expand production."
"Ten thousand tons? That sounds like a lot," Yang Wendong said, surprised.
"Not really," Zhou Haoran shook his head. "Yang Sheng, do you know how much sugar is in a 500ml bottle of cola?"
"Not exactly," Yang Wendong admitted.
He knew soda had a lot of sugar, but never paid attention to how much. In this era, beverage labels didn't even list ingredients—let alone nutrition facts.
"About 50 grams," Zhou Haoran said. "That means 10% of a 500ml drink is just sugar."
"Fifty grams?!" Yang Wendong was startled. That's about a whole handful of sugar per bottle.
"Yes," Zhou Haoran continued. "Our herbal tea is a bit better, but it's still in the same ballpark. Without enough sugar, drinks just don't taste good.
Take Pepsi as an example—even though their sales might be slightly lower than Coca-Cola's, they still sell hundreds of millions—maybe billions—of bottles in Southeast Asia each year. One hundred million bottles at 500ml each would require at least 5,000 tons of sugar.
So our 10,000-ton refinery won't even scratch the surface. It's enough for now, but it's nowhere near enough for Pepsi."
"Putting it that way, yeah, it makes sense." Yang Wendong nodded. "Alright, follow your plan."
High-sugar drinks were like instant noodles—considered unhealthy in modern, developed countries. But for Asia at this time, they were power-packed nutritional supplements.
And of course, expensive.
"Got it, Yang Sheng," Zhou Haoran continued. "Also, our team went to Japan to meet with Nissin Foods. They're willing to license the instant noodle patent to us, but they're asking for USD 150,000 and want us to agree not to enter the Japanese market."
"No entry into the Japanese market?" Yang Wendong considered. "How many years are left on the patent?"
"In Japan, the patent is valid for 15 years. There are 10 years remaining. In the U.S. and Europe, it varies depending on the country's laws, but it's roughly similar.
As for Southeast Asia, patents are basically unenforceable," Zhou Haoran said.
"No patents there doesn't mean we can infringe," Yang Wendong said. "That's just asking for future trouble. Here's what we'll do—try to negotiate the licensing fee down. As for avoiding the Japanese market, agree to a five-year restriction. I'm okay with that."
Before China's economic boom, Japan had the largest instant noodle market in the world. The U.S. and Europe didn't really eat them. So in the short term, avoiding Japan wasn't a big loss—but in the future, it could be.
"Understood. I'll work with our Japan team on that," Zhou Haoran said.
"Good. Once we have the patent, build a factory and start producing bowl noodles. We'll sell them in Carrefour first," Yang Wendong said. "But if we really want to stand out in the market, we'll need Changxing Industrial to design a low-cost plastic packaging alternative."
Without a unique edge, it would be hard to compete in a new market.
Only when distribution and supply chains were fully established could any product line thrive. That was Yang Wendong's current goal—expand Carrefour, optimize existing logistics, and use that foundation to enter new industries, which in turn would feed back into the core supply chains.
If he could control multiple layers of the upstream and downstream chain, he would be untouchable in the industry. For now, his focus remained on paper, plastic, food, sugary beverages—and, most importantly, logistics.
Industry consolidation was also key. But since both Hong Kong and Taiwan lacked natural resources, imports were a must. That's where his own shipping fleet came into play.
Over the next two weeks, Uni-President Herbal Tea's popularity surged in Hong Kong. Sales stabilized at around 20,000–30,000 cans per day. This was likely thanks to the hot weather and ongoing water shortage—but it was still a solid foundation.
When the product launched in Taiwan, it did reasonably well. With heavy advertising, daily sales reached 7,000–8,000 cans. Though profits still didn't outweigh ad spending, that was to be expected in the early stages of promotion.
On June 3rd, Yang Wendong, Wei Zetao, and others rented a fast boat and traveled to Taipei, Taiwan.
In this era, when air travel was still not entirely mature, Yang Wendong rarely flew unless heading to faraway places like Europe, America, or Japan. Luxury boats were more comfortable and far more suitable for regional travel.
As their cruise ship neared a small port on the east side of Taipei, a factory near the shoreline came into view, its chimney gently spewing smoke.
"That's our paper mill, right?" Yang Wendong asked.
From the deck, he could already see the sprawling facility by the water.
Wei Zetao smiled. "Yes, that's the first phase of our Changxing Paper Mill."
"This will also be our first factory outside Hong Kong," Yang Wendong said with a smile.
In the early years, Changxing Industrial's foundation was firmly rooted in Hong Kong. It made sense to build factories there. But now, due to challenges like chemical raw materials, pollution control, and water supply, they had to look elsewhere—and Taiwan was the logical next step.
The boat soon docked, and over a dozen staff members were already waiting at the pier.
"Yang Sheng, Wei Sheng, welcome," a middle-aged man at the front stepped forward and said, "I'm Ma Jiayou, head of the Changxing Taiwan Paper Mill."
"Nice to meet you, Mr. Ma," Yang Wendong greeted politely.
It was their first time meeting. Ma Jiayou had been poached by Wei Zetao from the Yongsheng Paper Mill in Taiwan and had brought a team with him to oversee Changxing's new papermaking operation.
"No need to be so formal, Yang Sheng," Ma Jiayou replied with a smile. "This way, please."
The group chatted casually as they walked toward the facility, taking the chance to introduce themselves.
Once they entered the factory, Ma Jiayou said, "Yang Sheng, Wei Sheng, please make sure to wear protective gear. Our plant has environmental equipment, but it's impossible to achieve zero emissions. There will still be some odor inside."
"Understood." Yang Wendong nodded.
Everyone put on special masks and followed Ma Jiayou into the production area.
From manual sorting of wastepaper to machine soaking, chemical breakdown, filtering, purification, de-inking, bleaching, concentrating, and finally pulping—it was a full process that ended in papermaking.
Yang Wendong observed each step of the workflow. For processes involving hazardous chemicals or potential danger, Ma Jiayou kept him at a distance. Yang Wendong didn't insist on getting closer. Even so, the smell in the workshop was nearly unbearable, even through the mask.
When they finally reached the packaging section, Yang Wendong took off his mask and said, "This smell is really something else."
Ma Jiayou nodded. "Yes, that's just how papermaking is. Even in Western countries, the odor in paper mills is unavoidable. Transforming wastepaper into usable pulp requires a lot of chemical treatment. Most of the fumes are released outside, but some still linger inside the workshop."
"I see." Yang Wendong nodded again. "Long-term exposure—how harmful is it?"
Ma Jiayou replied, "Based on Western statistics, workers in paper mills are more prone to respiratory, hematological, and neurological issues. When I worked at Yongfeng Paper Mill, there were many such cases. Some workers developed serious lung conditions, and in many instances, doctors couldn't even identify the root cause."
"So, what can we do to mitigate that?" Yang Wendong asked.
Completely avoiding the risk wasn't realistic. Some industries were inherently dangerous. Even driving carried the risk of accidents. All they could do was reduce the threat.
Ma Jiayou explained, "I've increased the ventilation capacity in the workshops. We've also implemented job rotation in high-risk areas. After working in those zones for a certain period, employees rotate to packaging or other departments so their bodies have time to recover."
"That's a smart system. But doesn't that affect the work of your technical staff?" Yang Wendong asked.
"It would in most factories," Ma Jiayou admitted. "But Wei Sheng requested we increase our training and staffing levels—especially for technical roles—so our factory has a surplus of skilled personnel."
At this point, Wei Zetao added, "Yang Sheng, I made that decision based on our expected capacity and the long-term market demand. We'll be scaling up significantly, so I wanted to get ahead of the curve with staffing."
"Good, that sounds reasonable," Yang Wendong nodded approvingly.
The paper industry would become one of Changxing Industrial's core focuses in the future. Although Yang Wendong lacked a clear time-travel advantage in this sector, not every industry required one.
With enough capital and the right distribution channels, even traditional industries could be highly profitable. The paper market was vast. If he succeeded, this single sector could propel Changxing into the Fortune Global 500.
For now, this was just a trial run. Once the technology matured, they would scale up aggressively.
"Yes, we're currently training a large number of technicians," Ma Jiayou said with a smile.
Yang Wendong looked around the packaging section. "Right now, we're only producing A4 paper and toilet paper, right?"
"That's correct," Ma Jiayou said. "The A4 paper is mainly supplied to Changxing Industrial's Post-it Note factory. The toilet paper goes to Carrefour. So far, internal consumption is taking most of our output.
But I've already started reaching out to distributors in Taiwan, Japan, and Southeast Asia. Once production ramps up, we'll expand into those markets."
"Alright. You and Wei can handle the details." Yang Wendong nodded. "One more thing. Since I'm here, there's another paper-related product I want to discuss with you."
Thank you for the support, friends. If you want to read more chapters in advance, go to my Patreon.
Read 40 Chapters In Advance: patreon.com/johanssen10