吉林省接管停產玉米加工企業

A provincial government in north-east China’s grains heartland has taken over a maize processor that had closed after a prolonged struggle with mounting debts, highlighting China’s unwillingness to allow local champions to fail in an era of slowing growth.

中國東北一個糧食大省的政府接管了一家在持久債務重壓之下停產的玉米加工企業，突顯在增長放緩時期中國官方不願讓地方龍頭企業倒閉。

Provincial governments have stepped in to rescue companies in sectors from steel to solar, avoiding potentially painful defaults but adding to concerns over the quality of debt held by Chinese banks and the drag on the economy of unprofitable corporations.

從鋼鐵到太陽能，省級政府已介入多個行業拯救企業，這種做法避免了潛在痛苦的違約，但加劇了人們對於中國各銀行所持債務質量、以及不能盈利的企業拖累經濟的擔憂。

Hong Kong-listed Global Bio-Chem, the third-largest corn refiner in the world and the largest in Asia, had racked up $1.9bn in debts to banks and local businesses, according to Chinese media reports. It had ceased operations at lossmaking production lines following protests by corn farmers who said the company had failed to pay them for their crop.

在香港上市的大成生化(Global Bio-Chem)，是世界第三大、亞洲最大玉米提煉企業。據中國媒體報道，該公司欠了銀行和當地企業19億美元債務。在玉米種植戶抗議該公司拖欠糧款後，大成生化虧損的生產線已停止運營。

It has been taken over by Modern Agricultural Industry Investment Ltd, which is ultimately owned by the Jilin Provincial government together with a city in the province also named Jilin. Over the past decade Jilin Province, China’s largest corn producing province, has encouraged the rapid development of companies that process corn into feed, starch, corn syrup and biofuels in order to create an industrial base for its predominantly rural economy.

該公司已被現代農業產業投資有限公司接管，後者的最終東家是吉林省政府和吉林市政府。吉林是中國頭號玉米大省，過去10年裏，省政府鼓勵把玉米加工成飼料、澱粉、玉米糖漿和生物燃料的企業快速發展，以便爲該省以農村爲主的經濟創建一個工業基礎。

“Historically, local governments don’t like any big employer to close. They’d rather see them bailed out and they also don’t like to see big investors lose,” said Michael Spencer, chief economist for Asia at Deutsche Bank in Hong Kong. “The process of imposing a hard budget constraint on Chinese companies is still in its infancy.”

“從歷史上看，地方政府不希望任何大僱主倒閉。他們希望看到這些企業得到紓困，他們也不想看到大投資者賠本。”德意志銀行(Deutsche Bank)亞洲首席經濟學家邁克爾斯潘塞(Michael Spencer)在香港表示，“對中國企業施加剛性預算約束的過程仍處於襁褓階段。”

Like many companies in China, Global Bio-Chem had expanded rapidly as the economy boomed but struggled as slowing demand from the livestock and food processing industries coincided with a state purchasing programme that elevated prices of corn, the company’s primary raw material. Global Bio-Chem is not alone in facing shrinking margins, as Chinese producer prices have fallen for 42 consecutive months.

像中國許多企業一樣，大成生化在經濟繁榮時期快速擴張，但後來陷入困境，原因是畜牧業和食品加工業的需求放緩，同時國家收儲計劃擡高了其主要原料玉米的價格。大成生化並非中國唯一面臨利潤率萎縮的企業，中國的工業生產者出廠價格指數(PPI)已經連續42個月下跌。

“Indebted companies at the local level risk a chain of repercussions. When local governments decide whether to save troubled companies, they will take into consideration the future prospect of the industry as well as the need for structural adjustment,” said Huang Weiping, economics professor at Renmin University in Beijing.

“債臺高築的公司在地方層面有帶來連鎖反應的風險。在地方政府決定是否救助陷入困境的企業時，他們會考慮行業的未來前景和結構調整的需要，”中國人民大學經濟學教授黃衛平在北京表示。

Global Bio-Chem’s woes come as China’s north-east struggles with a triple-whammy of falling oil and coal prices, poor returns in the grains industry and a steep drop in property investment.

大成生化陷入困境之際，中國東北地區正艱難應對三重打擊：石油和煤炭價格不斷下降、糧食產業回報低下、房地產投資大幅下滑。