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The global market prices of grains, vegetable, milk-based and other agricultural products have been falling.
谷物、蔬菜、牛奶等農產品的全球市場價格一直在下降。
The price drops, however, have not yet made it to everyday buyers around the world.
然而，降價還沒有惠及世界各地的普通買家。
Around the world, food prices are staying painfully high.
在世界各地，食品價格居高不下。
Food prices were already high when Russia invaded Ukraine in February of 2022.
2022年2月俄羅斯入侵烏克蘭時，食品價格已經很高了。
The invasion caused major problems to the grain and fertilizer trade.
俄羅斯入侵烏克蘭給糧食和化肥貿易造成了重大問題。
Food prices rose quickly.
食品價格快速上漲。
But on a global level, that price shock ended a while ago.
但在全球范圍內，這場價格沖擊在不久前就結束了。
The United Nations says global food prices have fallen for 12 straight months.
聯合國表示，全球食品價格已經連續12個月下跌。
Good harvests in places like Brazil and Russia and a wartime agreement that permitted grain shipments out of the Black Sea helped lead to the drop in food prices.
巴西和俄羅斯等地的豐收以及允許從黑海運出糧食的戰時協議幫助導致了食品價格的下降。
Yet, prices at food stores are still rising.
然而，食品店的價格仍在上漲。
And that affects people everywhere, from the United States and Europe to struggling countries in the developing world.
這影響了世界各地的人們，包括美國和歐洲以及發展中國家。
Food prices were 19.5 percent higher in the European Union last month compared to a year earlier and 19.2 percent higher in Britain.
上個月歐盟的食品價格同比上漲了19.5%，英國的食品價格同比上漲了19.2%。
Joseph Glauber is former chief economist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
約瑟夫·格勞伯是美國農業部前首席經濟學家。
He said that the cost of agricultural products is just one reason for the continued high cost of food.
他說，農產品價格上漲只是食品價格持續高企的原因之一。
In the United States, food prices were up 8.5 percent last month compared to one year earlier.
上個月美國的食品價格同比上漲了8.5%。
Glauber said that "75 percent of the costs are coming after it leaves the farm."
格勞伯說，“75%的成本是在它離開農場后產生的。”
He added, "It's energy costs. It's all the processing costs. All the transportation costs. All the labor costs."
他補充說，“其中包含能源成本、所有的加工成本、所有的運輸成本、所有的勞動力成本。”
Food inflation, Glauber said, "will come down, but it's going to come down slowly, largely because these other factors are still running pretty high."
格勞伯說，食品通脹率“將會下降，但下降速度很慢，這主要是因為這些其他因素的成本仍然很高。”
Another reason for high food prices in the United States, observers say, is a wave of mergers that have reduced competition in the food industry.
觀察人士表示，美國食品價格高企的另一個原因是，一波并購浪潮削弱了食品行業的競爭。
White House officials last year noted that just four companies control 85 percent of the U.S. beef market.
白宮官員去年指出，僅四家公司就控制了美國牛肉市場85%的份額。
Beef is meat that comes from cows.
牛肉是牛的肉。
Similarly, just four companies control 70 percent of the pork market and 54 percent of the poultry market.
同樣，僅四家公司就控制了70%的豬肉市場和54%的禽肉市場。
Pork meat comes from pigs; poultry is meat from birds including chickens and ducks.
豬肉來自豬；禽肉來自禽類，包括雞和鴨。
Those companies, critics say, can use their market power to raise prices.
批評人士表示，這些公司可以利用它們的市場力量來提高價格。
Glauber, who is now a researcher at the International Food Policy Research Institute, is not sure that mergers are the reason for high food prices.
格勞伯現在是國際食物政策研究所的研究員，他不確定合并是否是食品價格高企的原因。
He agreed that big agribusinesses can bring in profits when prices rise.
他同意，當價格上漲時，大型農業綜合企業可以賺取利潤。
But things usually even out over time.
但隨著時間的推移，事情通常會趨于平衡。
And their earnings go down in other times.
他們的收入在其他時候會下降。
"I couldn't point my finger at the fact that we just have a handful of meat producers," Glauber said.
格勞伯說：“我無法指責我們只有少數幾家肉類生產商的事實。”
In other countries, Glauber said, a strong U.S. dollar is to blame for keeping food prices high.
格勞伯說，在其他國家，強勢美元是食品價格居高不下的罪魁禍首。
In other high food price times, the dollar was not as strong.
在食品價格高企的其他時期，美元沒有那么強勢。
Glauber said prices for corn and wheat are given in dollars per ton.
格勞伯說，玉米和小麥的價格是以每噸多少美元計算的。
Because of the strong dollar, people in other countries have not felt the price drops that have shown up in global food markets.
由于強勢美元，其他國家的人們沒有感受到全球食品市場上出現的價格下跌。
In Hungary, people are increasingly unable to deal with the biggest increases in food prices in the E.U., reaching 45 percent in March.
在匈牙利，人們越來越無法應對歐盟食品價格的最大漲幅，3月，歐盟食品價格漲幅達到45%。
Joszef Varga is a fruit and vegetable seller in Budapest historic Grand Market Hall.
約瑟夫·瓦爾加是布達佩斯歷史悠久的大市場大廳的一名水果和蔬菜銷售商。
He said wholesale costs have risen by 20 to 30 percent.
他說，批發價格上漲了20%到30%。
All his buyers have felt the increased prices – some more than others.
他的所有買家都感覺到了價格在上漲——有些人感覺更強烈。
"Those with more money in their wallets buy more, and those with less buy less," he said.
他說：“那些錢包里有更多錢的人買得更多，而那些錢更少的人買得更少”。
In Pakistan, store owner Mohammad Ali said some customers are no longer buying meat.
在巴基斯坦，店主穆罕默德·阿里說，一些顧客不再購買肉類。
They buy more vegetables and beans instead.
相反，他們購買更多蔬菜和豆類。
But even the price of vegetables, beans, rice and wheat are up as much as 50 percent.
但即使是蔬菜、豆類、大米和小麥的價格也上漲了50%。
Sitting in her home outside Pakistan's capital of Islamabad, 45-year-old Zubaida Bibi said, "Our life was never easy, but now the price of everything has increased so much that it has become difficult to live."
45歲的Zubaida Bibi坐在巴基斯坦首都伊斯蘭堡郊外的家中說：“我們的生活從來都不輕松，但現在所有東西的價格都上漲了這么多，使得生活變得很困難。”
I'm Gregory Stachel.
格雷戈里·施塔赫爾為您播報。
譯文為可可英語翻譯，未經授權請勿轉載！
