Chapter 475: Grain Reserves

As the Allied Powers and the Entente Powers' ally war continued until the beginning of 1910, the members of the two major military groups expanded from the original five Great Powers to nearly ten European countries.

With the constant increase in the number of member countries of the two major military groups, the European public also increasingly believed that once a war broke out between the two major military groups in Europe, this war would evolve into a super war affecting the whole of Europe.

Considering that European Great Powers basically all possessed their own colonies, this European war might even evolve into a world war.

Not a few of the public were looking forward to the world war; they hoped to wash away the national humiliation in such a unique super war; at least a part of the French were thinking so.

The Russian government also impatiently hoped to use a war to re-declare Russia's existence; in the nearly ten years before this, the Russian government's influence in the whole of Europe could be described as terrible, falling to the lowest point in nearly a hundred years.

The reason was also simple: the dual chaos of Russia's internal affairs and military made the major European Great Powers start to look down on this country that was originally very powerful.

Although Russia's internal problems had not been solved, for Tsar Nicholas II, he believed that his country did not have relatively large problems internally, and only needed a victory in a war to let the public believe in the Tsarist government again; the rule of the Romanov family would absolutely not face danger; after all, Russia at this time did not have a large-scale revolutionary action, and the turmoil that broke out was more of a purposeless nature.

The German government did not want the war to break out at this time; Germany internally believed that the war preparations at this time were not sufficient.

But under the constant pressure of France and Russia, Germany could only constantly expand its military strength, crazily manufacturing various weapons and equipment to cope with the war that might break out.

France and Russia were also doing the same; European countries were almost crazily producing various weapons, ammunition, and strategic materials, which also led to the prices of grain, medicine, and steel in Europe rising a lot starting from the second half of 1909.

Especially grain, a resource that was very important at any time, the price soared by nearly 50%.

Before 1909, the price of grain in Europe was basically stable within a range; the price of wheat per ton was about 205 pesetas, and the price of barley per ton was about 176 pesetas.

But by 1909, the price of grain in Europe had already risen to 286 pesetas per ton of wheat and 263 pesetas per ton of barley.

The rise in grain prices did not mean it was a good thing; after all, between farmers and commercial grain purchasers, there existed middlemen like grain trading companies.

The income farmers actually received was about the same as before the rise in grain prices, which also represented that the only ones who really made money were grain companies, and the grain consumption costs of farmers and urban residents would increase.

Especially urban residents who did not produce grain; under the premise of the universal rise in grain prices, their living costs would also rise accordingly.

Regarding the situation of universal rise in grain prices in Europe, the Spanish government also quickly held a meeting and decided to release a part of the reserve grain to calm the grain prices within Spain.

Wanting to maintain the grain prices in Spain at the level of a few years ago under the scope of the universal rise in grain prices in Europe was fundamentally impossible; Spain, as a part of the European market, unless it completely closed the domestic market, could not be an exception.

But under the scope of rising grain prices, the Spanish government could conduct certain fine-tuning, ensuring that the range of the rise in grain prices would not be too exaggerated, ensuring the daily grain consumption of urban residents.

For other countries, wanting to lower domestic grain prices was very difficult. Either release enough grain to the country to calm grain prices, or control the middlemen selling grain, preventing black-hearted merchants from constantly raising the selling price of grain at such a moment.

For Spain, both points could be achieved. Spain's African colonies produced a large amount of grain, and the mainland's grain reserves were also enough for all of Spain's population to eat for more than half a year.

Adding that Spain's main grain trading companies were all controlled by the government and the royal family, as long as the government issued a notice to these grain companies to calm grain prices, the grain companies in the hands of the government and the royal family would immediately execute these orders, ensuring that the grain prices in various regions of Spain would not rise to an exaggerated level.

Apart from calming the rise in domestic grain prices, Gao Da also ordered the Spanish government to increase the intensity of grain reserves and temporarily slow down most grain export trade.

After Spain conducted large-scale agricultural development in the West African colonies, Spain also became one of the main grain-exporting countries in Europe.

After all, Spain had always been a country with a relatively small population among the Great Powers, and grain production had been constantly increasing with the use of fertilizer and the development of colonies.

In the whole of 1909, the grain production of Spain's mainland and colonies totaled 10.48 million tons, an increase of about 4.1% compared to the previous year.

Among these 10.48 million tons of grain, the main production was wheat and rice, with production of 5.78 million tons and 2.31 million tons respectively.

Apart from these two most important types of grain, the production of rye, oats, and barley also had over 2 million tons.

From these grain productions, one could also see the food characteristics of Spaniards, with various pasta foods being the majority, such as bread, macaroni, and pizza.

Rice made from paddy was also widely used in Spain, among which the main way was Spanish seafood rice, which was considered one of Spain's iconic foods.

Speaking of pizza, it was actually born in Italy decades ago. At that time, Gao Da had eaten enough of the food on the Spanish mainland; upon learning that Italy was popularizing a food called pizza, he immediately let the royal chef of Spain go to learn, and successfully brought pizza into Spain, causing a large number of Spanish nobles to imitate it.

This also led to Spaniards quickly falling in love with pizza, putting a few slices of beef or Iberian ham on the pizza, which also had a unique flavor when eaten.

With the introduction of pizza and the invention of cola and various fruit-flavored sodas, the dining table of Spaniards also became rich and incomparable.

Of course, there was also the fast-food company Gao Da established earliest, which produced food similar to hamburgers.

The production method of hamburgers was still relatively simple: a piece of beef patty sandwiched between two pieces of bread, plus some vegetables one liked to eat, and squeezing a little special salad dressing; production was not only convenient, but it was also rich in nutrition when eaten.

According to the current per capita grain production of Spaniards, the annual production of 10.48 million tons of various grains was already enough for over 65 million people to use for a whole year.

Spain did not have that many people, which also led to Spain selling nearly 2.62 million tons of grain every year; these grains could feed nearly 15 million people. ===== CHAPTER 476 =====