中國承認鋼鐵產能仍將過剩 China says its steel overcapacity will remain
Significant overcapacity will remain in China’s steel sector even after planned restructuring, industry executives said at the weekend, suggesting no let-up for the beleaguered industry’s plant closures and job losses across the globe.
鋼鐵行業高管週末表示，即便在規劃中的重組之後，中國鋼鐵業產能仍將嚴重過剩，這似乎表明全球陷入困境的鋼鐵業的工廠倒閉和失業不會有任何改善。
The acknowledgement by Chinese government officials and the country’s steel association came as the UK foreign minister and a leading US steel executive added their voices to concerns about the recent surge in exports from China.
在中國政府官員和鋼鐵業協會做出上述承認之際，英國外交大臣和美國鋼鐵業一位領先高管也加入了對中國最近出口飆升表示擔憂的行列。
Luo Tiejun, an official with China’s industry ministry, said at a conference that planned cuts would reduce annual steel capacity to about 1.1bn tonnes by 2020 while domestic consumption was unlikely to exceed 700m tonnes.
中國工業和信息化部官員駱鐵軍在一次會議上表示，規劃中的重組將讓年度鋼鐵產能到2020年降至11億噸左右，同時國內消費不太可能超過7億噸。
“We need to cut [an additional] 200m tonnes for the situation to become acceptable,” Mr Luo said, noting that China also currently exported about 100m tones of steel annually.
駱鐵軍表示：“要想讓情況變得可以接受，我們需要（額外）削減2億噸產能。”他指出，中國目前仍在每年出口約1億噸鋼鐵。
The growing international controversy surrounding China’s steel industry comes at an awkward time for the Chinese government, which is seeking to secure EU “market economy status” by the end of the year.
對中國政府來說，圍繞中國鋼鐵業的爭議愈演愈烈的時機頗爲尷尬，因爲中國正在爭取歐盟在今年底之前承認其“市場經濟地位”。
Beijing argues that the designation, which would make it harder to prove that Chinese steel plants were “dumping” their products overseas at below cost, should be granted automatically under the terms of its 2001 World Trade Organisation accession agreement.
北京方面辯稱，按照2001年加入世貿組織(WTO)的相關條款，中國應該被自動授予“市場經濟地位”。這將使貿易伙伴更難證明中國鋼廠以低於成本的價格在海外“傾銷”產品。
But EU officials, many of whom were initially favoured granting China MES, face a growing backlash from European unions, industry and politicians, especially after Tata Steel said it would dispose of a Welsh steel plant that employs 4,000 workers. The Indian group has blamed cheap Chinese exports for the pressure building on its European operations.
但歐盟官員——其中有許多最初支持授予中國市場經濟地位——遭遇來自歐洲工會、行業和政客們日益強烈的反彈，尤其是在塔塔鋼鐵(Tata Steel)宣佈將關閉威爾士一家僱用4000名員工的鋼廠之後。塔塔鋼鐵指責中國鋼鐵的廉價出口導致其歐洲業務日益承壓。
The crisis at Tata’s Port Talbot facility in Wales even featured at a weekend meeting of the UK and Chinese foreign ministers, where trade disputes are seldom on the agenda. “I urged China to accelerate its efforts to reduce levels of steel production,” Philip Hammond, UK foreign secretary, said after a meeting with his Chinese counterpart in Beijing.
塔塔在威爾士塔爾伯特港(Port Talbot)工廠發生的危機，甚至成了英中外交部長週末會晤的一個話題——貿易糾紛一般很少出現在這種會議上。英國外交大臣菲利普•哈蒙德(Philip Hammond)在北京與中國外長會晤後表示：“我敦促中國加快削減鋼鐵產量水平的努力。”
But Mr Hammond also welcomed “potential interest” by Chinese companies in the UK steel sector, as David Cameron’s government attempts to cash in on its new status as Beijing’s “best friend” in Europe.
但哈蒙德也對中國公司對英國鋼鐵行業的“潛在興趣”表示歡迎。目前戴維•卡梅倫(David Cameron)政府正試圖利用英國作爲中國在歐洲的“最好朋友”這一新地位。
In contrast to the EU, the US is extremely unlikely to agree to Beijing’s demand for MES, especially in an election year during which the frontrunners for the Democratic and Republican parties’ presidential nominations have threatened to roll back the Trans-Pacific Partnership and other free trade agreements backed by the Obama administration.
與歐盟相反，美國不太可能同意授予中國市場經濟地位的要求，尤其是在選舉年——民主黨和共和黨的總統候選人提名領跑者均威脅要逆轉《跨太平洋夥伴關係協定》(TPP)以及奧巴馬政府支持的其他自由貿易協定。
In a further acknowledgement that China’s planned capacity cuts will not be enough to quell the growing controversy, the head of the country’s leading steel association said that “controlling steel output is more important” than cutting capacity.
中國主要鋼鐵協會會長表示，“控制鋼鐵產量比削減產能更重要”，進一步承認中國規劃中的產能削減將不足以平息愈演愈烈的爭議。
