中國等新興市場需求不振 德國經濟告急
FRANKFURT — China is cutting back on mining machinery as its economy slips. The United Arab Emirates and other Middle Eastern countries are no longer awash in oil money, putting luxury car brands at risk. Russia, still facing Western sanctions, cannot buy as much high-tech energy equipment.
法蘭克福——中國在經濟不景氣之際，削減了購置採礦機械的費用。阿拉伯聯合酋長國等中東國家的石油收入不再數不勝數，令豪車品牌前景堪憂。俄羅斯仍舊面臨西方的制裁，無法購買多少高科技能源設備。
The downshift in the emerging markets is leaving Germany vulnerable — and, by extension, Europe.
新興市場增長放緩讓德國乃至整個歐洲都變得很脆弱。
As many businesses in the region struggled just to tread water in recent years, German companies prospered by selling the goods and technology that emerging countries needed to become more modern economies. As they did, Germany’s strength served as a counterweight to the economic malaise, financial turmoil and Greek debt drama that dragged down many European countries.
近年間，歐洲的很多企業都在掙扎求存，德國企業卻通過出售新興國家發展成爲更現代化的經濟體所必須的產品和技術而興旺發達。由於德企的興旺發達，德國經濟在很多歐洲國家都被經濟衰退、金融風暴和希臘債務危機拖住腳步之際穩住了局勢。
Now, Germany, which accounts for the largest share of the European economy, is looking like the laggard. Compared with the economies of other countries in the region, Germany’s has been more deeply tethered to emerging markets. And the political climate is only adding to the uncertainty, as Germany deals with a wave of migrants and a potential exit of Britain from the European Union.
如今，德國作爲歐洲最大的經濟體，似乎正在成爲拖後腿的那一方。與該地區的其他國家相比，德國經濟和新興市場的聯繫最爲緊密。此外，德國正在應對移民潮和英國退出歐盟的可能性，這種政治氛圍只會讓不確定性有增無減。
Against that backdrop, the country’s export engine is sputtering, while business confidence is eroding.
在上述背景下，德國的商業信心受到了損害，其出口引擎在重壓下開始發出喘息之聲。
During the good times, the German manufacturer Eickhoff Bergbautechnik sold 20 machines a year as China dug ever more coal mines to feed its energy-hungry factories. The machines, shearer loaders that use giant spinning claws to scrape coal or potash from underground seams, sell for up to 4 million euros, or about $4.6 million apiece.
經濟景氣的時候，中國爲了滿足那些能源緊缺的工廠的需求，所開採的煤礦越來越多，德國製造商艾柯夫採礦技術有限公司(Eickhoff Bergbautechnik)一年能賣出20套機械設備。每套設備——即採煤機，可以利用旋轉的巨爪把煤或者鉀鹽從地下礦層中開採出來——售價高達400萬歐元，約合460萬美元。
Last year, the company sold just eight. With profit dropping, Eickhoff laid off about 10 percent of its local work force of 300.
去年，該公司只賣出了8套設備。由於利潤下滑，艾柯夫裁掉了300名本地僱員中的10%。
“We are going from an unbelievable boom to a down phase,” said Karl-Heinz Rieser, the managing director of Eickhoff.
“我們正從令人難以置信的繁榮期過渡到蕭條期，”艾柯夫的董事總經理卡爾-海因茨·裏澤(Karl-Heinz Rieser)說。
