油價走低加元貶值 加拿大人吃不起花菜
OTTAWA — Steamed, sauted or stir-fried, cauliflower is standard fare on many dinner tables. In Canada, it is a luxury.
渥太華——蒸、嫩煎或煸炒的花菜，在許多地方的餐桌上是一道家常菜。在加拿大，卻是一種奢侈。
A head of cauliflower there now goes for around 8 Canadian dollars, a tripling in price, the strange foodie fallout from the low price of oil and other commodities.
如今一個花菜在那裏可以賣到大約8加元（約合38元人民幣），價格是原來的三倍，這是石油和其他大宗商品價格走低連累“吃貨”的一個古怪案例。
The recipe for high-priced cauliflower starts with the currency.
天價花菜的出現，首先要從匯率說起。
As prices for commodities have dropped, the value of the Canadian dollar has fallen, a direct link to an economy that is dependent on oil and other resources. It makes imports, like fresh American vegetables during the dark Canadian winter, look especially costly.
隨着大宗商品價格下跌，加元出現貶值，對於一個依賴石油和其他資源的經濟體來說，這是一種直接的聯動。這就導致進口商品的價格顯得格外誇張，比如在天昏地暗的加拿大隆冬時節從美國進口的新鮮蔬菜。
Two years ago, one Canadian dollar was worth 93 American cents. On Wednesday, it stood at 69 American cents.
兩年前，一加元相當於93美分。在本週三是69美分。
The drought in California, where Canadians get most of their vegetables in the off-season, just compounds the sticker shock. With less bounty in the fields, farmers’ prices, in American dollars, are higher than normal.
而加拿大的非時令蔬菜大多來自加州，那裏的旱情也加劇了價格的暴漲。由於收成不佳，以美元計的農產品價格要高於正常水平。
As a result, fresh vegetables feel more like a splurge for Canadian consumers.
這樣一來，新鮮蔬菜在加拿大消費者眼裏就成了奢侈品。
Iceberg lettuce sells for 3 Canadian dollars, up from the typical 90 Canadian cents. One head of broccoli goes for $4, compared with $1.50 for two in the past. Last winter, a head of cauliflower was selling for 2.50 Canadian.
圓生菜售價從平常的90加分漲到了3加元。一個西蘭花賣到4加元，在過去1.50加元可以買到兩個。去年冬天，一個花菜的價格是2.50加元。
“We’ve gone through this cycle before with the dollar,” said Jim McKeen, owner of McKeen Metro Glebe, a grocery store in downtown Ottawa. “But there were issues on prices anyways because of supply in addition to this whole fiasco with the Canadian dollar. It’s a perfect storm.”
“這些匯率的事以前全都經歷過，”渥太華市中心食品雜貨店McKeen Metro Glebe老闆吉姆·麥基恩(Jim McKeen)說。“但是供應不足決定了價格本來就會有問題，再加上加元慘成這樣，就成了一場完美風暴。”
The Canadian dollar, in part, reflects the trouble in the country’s economy.
加元一定程度上反應了該國的經濟困境。
For years, Canada rode the global commodities boom. The rapidly growing Chinese economy — and its seemingly insatiable appetite for commodities — helped increase the price of oil, potash, nickel and the other Canadian resources.
加拿大多年來得益於全球大宗商品的繁榮。快速增長的中國經濟——及其看上去永無止境的大宗商品需求——推高了石油、鉀鹽、鎳和其他加拿大資源的價格。
With China’s demand now faltering, commodity prices have reversed course. Oversupply of oil has similarly devastated its price. Both factors are taking their toll on the Canadian economy. The gross domestic product increased just 0.6 percent in the third quarter of 2015, after six months of negative growth.
隨着中國的需求增長放緩，大宗商品價格急轉直下。石油的供過於求也對價格造成了類似的衝擊。這兩個因素都在危害加拿大經濟。在經過六個月的負增長後，其國內生產總值在2015年第三季度只增長了0.6%。
Since October, the decline in the Canadian dollar, already looking shaky against a surging American currency, has picked up speed.
自去年10月以來，加元加速貶值，與強勁的美元相比，加元顯得搖搖欲墜。
In many ways, a weaker currency is helpful to the economy. The United States is overwhelmingly the largest market for Canadian exports, which are now less expensive across the border because of the currency’s fall.
從很多方面來看，走軟的貨幣對經濟有利。美國是加拿大最大的出口市場，遠超其他國家。由於貨幣貶值，加拿大出口商品的價格有所降低。
And commodity exports are almost all priced in American dollars. So foreign exchange gains have helped cushion some of the blow to Canadian oil producers and mining companies, which largely sell their resources elsewhere.
出口大宗商品的價格幾乎都是以美元定價。因此，外匯收益在一定程度上緩和了加拿大石油生產商和礦業公司遭受的衝擊，這些企業開採的資源主要銷往其他地區。
“From a household point of view, what Canadians see is that their dollar isn’t going as far,” said Craig Alexander, vice president of economic research at the C.D. Howe Institute, an economic analysis and policy group “But it’s good for Canadians, it’s good for jobs. The primary driver for economic growth going forward has to come from nonresource export sectors.”
“普遍看法是，加拿大人認爲加元不會一路跌下去，”經濟分析及政策研究機構C·D·豪研究所(C.D. Howe Institute)負責經濟分析的副所長克雷格·亞歷山大(Craig Alexander)說。“但這對加拿大人有利，對就業有利。經濟繼續增長的主要驅動力來自非資源型出口領域。”
Canada’s tourism industry and other service sectors, which had been suffering, are already experiencing gains from the currency drop. Luke Azevedo, the film commissioner for Calgary Economic Development, said there had been a notable rise in production in Alberta, where large portions of the movie “The Revenant” and the television series “Fargo” were filmed last year.
步履艱難的加拿大旅遊業及其他服務行業，已經從貨幣貶值的形勢中受益。卡爾加里經濟發展局(Calgary Economic Development)電影專員盧克·阿塞韋多(Luke Azevedo)表示，艾伯塔省的製片活動顯著增多。去年，電影《荒野獵人》(The Revenant)和電視劇《冰血暴》(Fargo)的很多場景都是在卡爾加里拍攝的。
“It’s across the country and the dollar plays a fairly significant role,” Mr. Azevedo said.
阿塞韋多說，“全國都是這樣，加元匯率發揮了重要作用。”
Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Wednesday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau emphasized Canada’s strengths in technology and education rather than its ailing natural resource sector.
週三，加拿大總理賈斯廷·特魯多(Justin Trudeau)在瑞士達沃斯舉行的世界經濟論壇(World Economic Forum)發表講話時，強調了加拿大在技術和教育方面的優勢，並未多談狀況欠佳的自然資源行業。
“Our natural resources are important and always will be,” Mr. Trudeau said. “But Canadians know that growth and prosperity is not only based on what’s under our feet but particularly on what we have between our ears.”
“我們的自然資源非常重要，將來也是如此，”特魯多說。“但加拿大人知道，發展和繁榮不僅僅是基於我們腳底下的資源，還尤其要依靠我們的頭腦。”
Consumer costs are creeping up in a number of areas.
在一些領域，消費者的購物成本在逐漸提高。
The turnover in the grocery aisle, compared with, say, a clothing store, is faster, meaning changes in currency are more quickly reflected. And profit margins are thin, so grocery stores are less willing to absorb the losses.
例如，與服裝店相比，食雜店的價格上漲得更快一些，這意味着雜貨店更快速地體現了匯率波動。由於利潤空間非常微薄，食雜店更不願承受這種損失。
The current collapse of the country’s dollar could have a more significant impact in supermarkets than it did in the early 2000s, according to Sylvain Charlebois, a professor at the University of Guelph in Ontario and one of the authors of an annual study of Canadian food prices.
安大略省圭爾夫大學(University of Guelph)教授西爾萬·沙勒布瓦(Sylvain Charlebois)表示，與2000年代初期的情況相比，目前加元匯率暴跌的形勢可能會給超市帶來更爲顯著的影響。沙勒布瓦跟其他人合著了一份關於加拿大食品價格的年度研究報告。
Professor Charlebois estimated that about 140 Canadian food processing plants have closed in recent years. Many were owned by multinationals that have replaced Canadian production with imports from their larger American plants. Kellogg’s ended a century of production in London, Ontario, just over a year ago.
據沙勒布瓦教授估計，近些年來約有140家加拿大食品加工廠關門。很多加工廠歸跨國公司所有，這些公司用規模更大的美國加工廠生產的進口產品，代替加拿大本地生產的產品。一年多以前，家樂氏(Kellogg)停止了該公司在安大略省倫敦市已經持續百年的生產活動。
The result, Professor Charlebois said, is that price increases will be seen throughout grocery stores and not just in their fresh produce aisles. Already, he said, some breakfast cereals have hit 10 Canadian dollars.
沙勒布瓦教授表示，結果就是，不僅新鮮農產品的價格會上漲，食雜店商品的價格也會擡高。他表示，一些穀類早餐的價格已經達到10加元。
Fishermen in Prince Edward Island now send most of their oyster harvest to the United States to capitalize on the currency difference. That’s leading to shortages at Canadian fishmongers, forcing some restaurant owners to reimport from the United States.
愛德華王子島的漁民現在將收穫的大多數牡蠣都運往了美國，以便利用匯率差價獲利。這導致加拿大魚販缺貨，迫使一些餐廳老闆從美國再進口牡蠣。
“It’s mind-boggling that I have to buy Malpeque oysters from my American importer in Boston,” said David McMillan, the co-owner of Joe Beef and two other restaurants in Montreal, adding that the cost of the oyster from Prince Edward Island had risen to 120 Canadian dollars a box from about 90 Canadian dollars. “That’s a lot of money for not a special oyster.”
“我得從美國波士頓的進口商那裏購買莫爾佩克產的牡蠣，這真是令人難以置信，”戴維·麥克米倫(David McMillan)說。麥克米倫在蒙特利爾與別人合開了Joe Beef及其他兩家餐廳。他還表示，愛德華王子島出產的牡蠣價格從一箱90加元上漲到了120加元。“對於並不特別的牡蠣來說，這個價格太高了。”
