蝴蝶風暴 全球鋼鐵業的中國因素(1)

Through the din of machinery and clouds of hissing steam, there is a rumbling sound. A slab of red-hot metal thunders along the line of rollers and water jets in the cavernous factory, to be transformed into a thin sheet before being rolled up tightly into a coil.

在機械的嘈雜和嘶嘶作響的蒸汽形成的煙霧中，有一種隆隆的響聲。在巨大的車間裏，熾熱的金屬厚板在雷鳴般的響聲中通過輥道和噴水冷卻設備，被壓成薄片，最後緊緊地繞成捲鋼。

Steel produced at this sooty complex that sprawls along the south Wales coastline goes into everyday objects such as cars, dishwashers, coins and food tins. It is a source of local pride.

沿着南威爾士海岸的這片煤黑色廠區生產的鋼材，被用於汽車、洗碗機、硬幣和食品罐頭等日常用品。這是當地人的一大驕傲。

Workers and managers tell visitors how the hot strip mill, where slabs of steel made on the site are rolled, has recently broken production records. Productivity is up, they say, and a turnround plan on track. But there is a anxious look in their eyes. For they know their efforts may not be enough.

工人和管理人員告訴參觀者，這個熱軋帶鋼車間（廠區製造的鋼板在這裏被熱軋和卷取）最近打破了生產紀錄。他們說，生產率提高了，改善業績的計劃也走上了正軌。但他們的眼中都有一種焦慮。因爲他們知道，他們的努力可能還不夠。

The twin blast furnaces towering over Port Talbot have become the focal point of a crisis that has left British steelmaking hanging in the balance. After years of heavy losses, the plant’s Indian owner, Tata Steel, wants to sell off its collection of UK facilities.

聳立在塔爾伯特港(Port Talbot)的雙子高爐，成爲了一場讓英國鋼鐵業前途未卜的危機的焦點。在多年嚴重虧損後，這家工廠的印度東家塔塔鋼鐵(Tata Steel)打算賣掉其在英國的鋼鐵業務。

If no buyer is found by the end of June, they could close permanently. As well as the livelihoods of about 35,000 people at the business and in the supply chain, this threatens the core of an industry that has been a pillar of the British economy since the late 19th century.

如果到6月底還找不到買家，這些工廠可能被永久關閉。這不僅會威脅企業和供應鏈上的約3.5萬人的生計，還威脅到自19世紀末以來一直是英國經濟支柱之一的鋼鐵業的核心。

“It’s the whole UK industry that’s in jeopardy if Port Talbot isn’t here,” says Barrie Evans, a steelworker of 21 years. “Everyone has their back to the wall but they’re coming out fighting.”

“如果塔爾伯特港鋼廠不復存在，整個英國工業都將陷入危險，”當了21年鋼鐵工人的巴里•埃文斯(Barrie Evans)說，“每個人都被逼到了牆角，但他們正站出來抗爭。”

Although high production and energy costs have made Britain an expensive place for heavy manufacturing, the plight of Tata Steel UK has magnified distortions convulsing the wider global steel industry.

儘管高昂的生產和能源成本使得在英國經營重工業十分昂貴，但塔塔鋼鐵英國的困境凸顯出讓全球鋼鐵業震顫的扭曲。

From the US to Australia and Brazil to Japan, producers have buckled after prices fell by nearly 30 per cent last year, according to the Platts World Steel Price index. At companies such as ArcelorMittal, US Steel and Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal, earnings have crumpled, share prices sagged and, in some cases, thousands of jobs lost in response to a slump triggered by a massive international oversupply.

根據普氏世界鋼鐵價格指數(Platts World Steel Price index)，從美國到澳大利亞，從巴西到日本，去年鋼價近30%的跌幅壓垮了生產商。安賽樂米塔爾(ArcelorMittal)、美國鋼鐵公司(US Steel)、新日鐵住金(Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal)等公司的利潤大幅下滑，股價下跌，在某些情況下，國際性的大規模供過於求造成低迷，進而導致成千上萬的鍊鋼工人失去工作。

On Wednesday Tata completed the sale of its European long products business, based at the UK’s other big steelworks in Scunthorpe, to Greybull Capital for ￡1.

最近，塔塔完成了以1英鎊將其歐洲長材業務出售給Greybull Capital的交易，這些業務位於其在英國斯肯索普(Scunthorpe)的另一家大型鋼廠。

As a highly cyclical industry, steel has long suffered bouts of excess production capacity, which drags down prices in downturns. But this time the equation is skewed by a very large variable: China.

作爲一個週期性很強的行業，鋼鐵業歷來每隔一段時期就會遭遇產能過剩，將價格拖入低迷。但這一次，整個等式被一個巨大的變量扭曲：中國。

“After the financial crisis, [the industry] came out of trouble first with the growth of China, which sucked in raw materials and then steel,” says Christopher Beauman, an industry adviser. “Because it became so big, when China sneezes, the rest of the world catches pneumonia. Its downturn has arguably hit steel more than any other sector.”

“金融危機過後，（鋼鐵業）最初隨着中國的增長走出困境；中國吸收了大量原材料，然後是鋼鐵，”行業顧問克里斯托弗•博曼(Christopher Beauman)說，“因爲中國變得太巨大了，當中國打噴嚏的時候，世界其他地方就得了肺炎。可以說中國的低迷對鋼鐵業的衝擊大過對其他任何行業的衝擊。”