2022年经济学人 包装食品生产商正在让你的午餐变得更贵（在线收听）

Business

商业

Pricing power(2) -- Food fight

定价权（2）——食品战

Producers of packaged-foods are making your lunch more expensive

包装食品生产商正在让你的午餐变得更贵

The market for packaged foods is a competitive one, where price rises by one firm risk pushing shoppers into the arms of rivals.

包装食品市场竞争激烈，一家公司涨价就可能会将消费者推入竞争对手的怀抱。

Companies in the industry deal with soaring costs by hedging against spikes in commodity markets using forward contracts, reformulating products so they contain less of the pricier foodstuffs or, failing that, surreptitiously making packages a bit smaller while keeping the ticket price the same.

业内公司应对成本飙升的方法是，使用期货合约对冲大宗商品市场的飙升，调整产品配方，减少其中高价食物原料的含量，或者，如果这样做不行的话，就在保持价格不变的基础上暗中缩小包装。

Amid pandemic-related supply-chain bottlenecks, labour shortages and crop failures, food firms have repeatedly done all that.

在疫情相关的供应链瓶颈、劳动力短缺和农作物歉收的影响下，食品公司一再采取上述措施。

Even so, they have had to raise prices, often less judiciously than is ideal.

即便如此，他们还是不得不提高价格，但往往不够明智。

The invasion of Ukraine, known as Europe's breadbasket thanks to its rich soil, by Russia, the world's top exporter of wheat, is forcing their hand once again.

俄罗斯对乌克兰的入侵又一次迫使他们采取行动，乌克兰因其肥沃的土壤而被称为欧洲粮仓，而俄罗斯是世界上最大的小麦出口国。

Together the two countries account for 29% of international wheat sales and nearly 80% of sales of sunflower oil.

这两个国家加起来占了国际小麦销量的29%，葵花籽油销量的近80%。

Disruptions to those critical supplies are pushing up food companies' costs just as energy costs are also sky-high as a result of the war.

这些关键供应的中断正在推高食品公司的成本，就像能源成本也因战争而飙升一样。

It will be harder for European food companies to pass price rises to consumers than for American firms.

与美国公司相比，欧洲食品公司将更难将价格上涨转嫁给消费者。

Supermarkets in Europe are more concentrated than in America, and drive a harder bargain with suppliers.

欧洲的超市比美国的更加集中，与供应商讨价还价的难度更大。

Walmart, America's biggest, controls 17% of the domestic market.

美国最大的超市沃尔玛控制着17%的国内市场。

Its British and German opposite numbers, Tesco and Edeka, respectively, have nearly 30% of theirs.

而在英国和德国，大型超市乐购和Edeka分别占据了近30%的市场份额。

Moreover, cost-conscious Europeans shop more at discounters such as Aldi or Lidl.

此外，对价格敏感的欧洲人更喜欢在Aldi或Lidl这样的折扣店购物。

They are also less fussy than Americans about branded products and buy more of the retailers' own labels.

他们也不像美国人那样执意购买品牌产品，而是更喜欢购买零售商自己的品牌。

On March 23rd General Mills, the American maker of Cheerios and Wheaties, among other sugary fare, reported healthy margins and quarterly sales that were higher than in the same period in 2019, before the pandemic (though flat compared with last year).

3月23日，生产Cheerios和Wheaties等含糖食品的美国公司通用磨坊公布了可观的利润率和季度销售额，均高于疫情爆发前的2019年同期（不过与去年相比持平）。

The firm insisted that demand for packaged food should remain strong all year as many people continue to work from home at least some of the time.

该公司坚持认为，包装食品的需求应该会全年保持强劲，因为许多人继续远程办公，至少在某些时候是这样的。

Robust appetite for its products will, the firm says, allow it to raise prices to offset the rising costs of commodities.

该公司称，对其产品的强劲需求将使其能够提高价格，以抵消商品成本的上升。

That may be optimistic.

这可能过于乐观了。

Shoppers' patience with inflation is wearing thin on both sides of the Atlantic.

大西洋两岸的消费者对通货膨胀的耐心都正在逐渐消失。

Investors expect margins to narrow.

投资者预计利润率将会收窄。

The share prices of big American, European and Chinese food firms alike took a knock after Russian tanks rolled onto Ukrainian fields on February 24th.

在2月24日俄罗斯坦克开进乌克兰的田地后，美国、欧洲和中国的大型食品公司的股价都受到了冲击。