According to local records: In 1983, the price of chemical fertilizers in Maolin Province was 350 yuan per ton of urea ex-factory and 450 yuan in retail price; 158 yuan in ex-factory price and 187 yuan in retail price per ton of ammonium bicarbonate in Maolin Province.
During the same period, the price of automobile transportation within the province was 0.2 yuan per ton-kilometer. This means that if the distance from the fertilizer factory to the rural fields is 100 kilometers, 20 yuan will be spent just for the freight of fertilizer.
If the fertilizer transported is urea, then paying a freight fee of 20 yuan per ton is still within the acceptable range. But for ammonium bicarbonate, the difference between the ex-factory price and the retail price of the product per ton is only 29 yuan.
, deducting the 20 yuan shipping fee, the agricultural supplies company will basically lose money.
Before the 1980s, China had not yet fully grasped the manufacturing capacity of urea equipment, and fertilizers were mainly ammonium bicarbonate. This determined that the distance between fertilizer plants and rural areas could not be too far, otherwise the price of fertilizers would exceed the affordability of farmers.
The Ministry of Chemical Industry once made a very detailed calculation, based on the average level of domestic agricultural use of chemical fertilizers. For a fertilizer factory that produces ammonium bicarbonate, if the synthetic ammonia production capacity is 0.5 tons per hour, that is, 4,380 tons per year, the average sales range is
32.18 kilometers, the freight per ton of nitrogen products is 26.76 yuan;
If the production capacity is increased to 5 tons per hour, that is, 43,800 tons per year, reaching the level of a medium nitrogen fertilizer plant, the average distance of the sales range will be 101.74 kilometers, and the freight per ton of nitrogen products will rise to 84.62 yuan.
For this reason, when the main product is ammonium bicarbonate, it is uneconomical to build large and medium-sized fertilizer plants. It is more reasonable to build a small fertilizer plant with an annual output of 5,000 tons of synthetic ammonia in each county.
But when the main product is changed to urea, since the nitrogen content of each ton of urea is equivalent to 3 tons of ammonium bicarbonate, the economic transportation radius can be greatly increased. The same fertilizer plant with an annual output of 43,800 tons of synthetic ammonia has a ton of nitrogen product.
The shipping fee is only 31.28 yuan. In this way, it becomes an economical choice to build one fertilizer plant in three or five counties.
Of course, in later generations, the price of urea rose to 2,000 yuan/ton, and railway transportation was very common and the price was very cheap. The impact of freight factors on the layout of fertilizer plants was greatly reduced. This is why Gao Fan lacked concept of this issue.
reason.
"In other words, the production capacity of our factory can meet the needs of three to four counties. The best option is to let Yanxiu and Wuyuan counties shut down their fertilizer plants and switch to the urea produced by us."
Gao Fan listened to Gao Yiping's brief introduction about freight charges and finally understood the key to the problem.
"The Chemical Engineering Design Institute initially did not agree to put the ammonium-to-urea pilot program in our Canghai Fertilizer Plant because of this issue. We have little land here, and the transportation distance after fertilizer production is long, and 40,000 tons of urea cannot be digested.
"If placed on the North China Plain, one county could absorb 40,000 tons of urea production capacity, and the effect of ammonium in changing urine would be even more obvious," Gao Yiping said.
Gao Fan said: "So, I have misunderstood the people at the Chemical Design Institute?"
Gao Yiping nodded: "Dean Song from the Chemical Engineering Design Institute came here some time ago to learn about the equipment construction situation, and specifically asked Xiao Zhou to bring him over to my office to sit down and explain the matter to me."
"How can Lao Song be so vengeful?" Gao Fan said with a smile.
Song Chunyuan, the vice-president of the Chemical Engineering Design Institute, initially strongly opposed the pilot project of ammonium-to-urine conversion in Canghai Fertilizer Factory. For this reason, Gao Fan even had a head-on conflict with him, which made the old man angry.
It was precisely because of Gao Fan's harsh words that the Chemical Engineering Design Institute had to seriously consider the possibility of choosing Canghai Fertilizer Plant as a pilot plant. In the end, Zheng Linong, the deputy minister of the Ministry of Chemical Industry, made the decision.
Song Chunyuan went to Gao Yiping specifically to talk about this matter. Of course, he did not want to complain to Gao Yiping, but to explain to him the whole story so that Gao Yiping and his son would not have any resentment towards the Chemical Engineering Design Institute.
Logically speaking, the Canghai Fertilizer Factory proposed a new process for ammonium-to-urine conversion, and the Chemical Engineering Design Institute adopted their ideas but refused to choose them as a pilot plant. This was somewhat unreasonable. Now that the matter has been settled, Song Chunyuan
Of course I need to explain something.
Gao Yiping was now used to his son's venomous tongue. He did not correct Gao Fan's words, but continued the previous topic and said:
"The current situation is like this. Yanxiu and Wuyuan counties both refuse to accept our urea. If we end up having to sell urea to other areas, the freight cost alone will be huge. The Chemical Design Institute may not
It’s up to us to laugh.”
"You just said you wanted to hear my thoughts?" Gao Fan remembered what Gao Yiping said just now.
"Yes." Gao Yiping said confidently, "You are the one who caused this matter. Now that we are in trouble, of course I want to hear your thoughts."
Okay, you are my father, you are right.
Gao Fan cursed.
Of course he knew that Gao Yiping was starting to pay attention to him now, and when encountering such a thing, he couldn't help but ask him for advice.
But as a father, Gao Yiping couldn't save the dignity to ask for advice, so he put on such a face.
"How are the two fertilizer factories in Yanxiu and Wuyuan doing?" Gao Fan asked.
Gao Yiping shook his head: "The situation is not very good. Their situation is similar to ours in the past. The coal consumption per coal is less than 3,000, which is not much different. They have been sending reports asking the province to allocate funds for them to carry out technical transformation, but now it is estimated that the province will not
The money will be paid."
"Is it because we changed urine?"
"That's right."
"The director of the Yanxiu Fertilizer Factory, I think his surname was Yin. Everyone said he supported the central government from the local government," Gao Fan recalled.
Several fertilizer factories in the same area have a lot of interactions with each other. As Gao Yiping said before, he once took Gao Fan to the Yanxiu Fertilizer Factory, and the other factory director even invited them to dinner, so
Gao Fan remembers the factory director named Yin.
As for "local support for the central government", it is also a popular joke among officials. It refers to some people who are bald. In order to hide it, they grow the hair on the side long and comb it down to the middle to block the bald head in the middle. Officials
They were all familiar with newspaper documents, so they found such a political term to describe it.
"Yes, Lao Yin, Yin Baowen, is five years older than me. He always asked you to call him uncle." Gao Yiping said.
"Have you communicated this matter with him?" Gao Fan asked.
Gao Yiping said: "That's for sure."
"What's his attitude?"
"What do you think?" Gao Yiping choked angrily.
Gao Fan was speechless. He also knew that he had asked a very stupid question. The success of the ammonium-to-urinary reform at the Canghai Fertilizer Plant meant that both the Yanxiu and Wuyuan fertilizer plants had to close down. It would be surprising if their factory directors were happy.
"So, it's useless to talk to the directors of these two factories. We have to ask the Chemical Industry Department to come forward to coordinate?" Gao Fan said.