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Pricing power(2) -- Food fight
定價(jià)權(quán)（2）——食品戰(zhàn)
Producers of packaged-foods are making your lunch more expensive
包裝食品生產(chǎn)商正在讓你的午餐變得更貴
The market for packaged foods is a competitive one, where price rises by one firm risk pushing shoppers into the arms of rivals.
包裝食品市場(chǎng)競(jìng)爭(zhēng)激烈，一家公司漲價(jià)就可能會(huì)將消費(fèi)者推入競(jìng)爭(zhēng)對(duì)手的懷抱。
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.
業(yè)內(nèi)公司應(yīng)對(duì)成本飆升的方法是，使用期貨合約對(duì)沖大宗商品市場(chǎng)的飆升，調(diào)整產(chǎn)品配方，減少其中高價(jià)食物原料的含量，或者，如果這樣做不行的話，就在保持價(jià)格不變的基礎(chǔ)上暗中縮小包裝。
Amid pandemic-related supply-chain bottlenecks, labour shortages and crop failures, food firms have repeatedly done all that.
在疫情相關(guān)的供應(yīng)鏈瓶頸、勞動(dòng)力短缺和農(nóng)作物歉收的影響下，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，他們還是不得不提高價(jià)格，但往往不夠明智。
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.
俄羅斯對(duì)烏克蘭的入侵又一次迫使他們采取行動(dòng)，烏克蘭因其肥沃的土壤而被稱為歐洲糧倉(cāng)，而俄羅斯是世界上最大的小麥出口國(guó)。
Together the two countries account for 29% of international wheat sales and nearly 80% of sales of sunflower oil.
這兩個(gè)國(guó)家加起來(lái)占了國(guó)際小麥銷量的29%，葵花籽油銷量的近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.
這些關(guān)鍵供應(yīng)的中斷正在推高食品公司的成本，就像能源成本也因戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)而飆升一樣。
It will be harder for European food companies to pass price rises to consumers than for American firms.
與美國(guó)公司相比，歐洲食品公司將更難將價(jià)格上漲轉(zhuǎn)嫁給消費(fèi)者。
Supermarkets in Europe are more concentrated than in America, and drive a harder bargain with suppliers.
歐洲的超市比美國(guó)的更加集中，與供應(yīng)商討價(jià)還價(jià)的難度更大。
Walmart, America's biggest, controls 17% of the domestic market.
美國(guó)最大的超市沃爾瑪控制著17%的國(guó)內(nèi)市場(chǎng)。
Its British and German opposite numbers, Tesco and Edeka, respectively, have nearly 30% of theirs.
而在英國(guó)和德國(guó)，大型超市樂(lè)購(gòu)和Edeka分別占據(jù)了近30%的市場(chǎng)份額。
Moreover, cost-conscious Europeans shop more at discounters such as Aldi or Lidl.
此外，對(duì)價(jià)格敏感的歐洲人更喜歡在Aldi或Lidl這樣的折扣店購(gòu)物。
They are also less fussy than Americans about branded products and buy more of the retailers' own labels.
他們也不像美國(guó)人那樣執(zhí)意購(gòu)買品牌產(chǎn)品，而是更喜歡購(gòu)買零售商自己的品牌。
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，生產(chǎn)Cheerios和Wheaties等含糖食品的美國(guó)公司通用磨坊公布了可觀的利潤(rùn)率和季度銷售額，均高于疫情爆發(fā)前的2019年同期（不過(guò)與去年相比持平）。
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.
該公司堅(jiān)持認(rèn)為，包裝食品的需求應(yīng)該會(huì)全年保持強(qiáng)勁，因?yàn)樵S多人繼續(xù)遠(yuǎn)程辦公，至少在某些時(shí)候是這樣的。
Robust appetite for its products will, the firm says, allow it to raise prices to offset the rising costs of commodities.
該公司稱，對(duì)其產(chǎn)品的強(qiáng)勁需求將使其能夠提高價(jià)格，以抵消商品成本的上升。
That may be optimistic.
這可能過(guò)于樂(lè)觀了。
Shoppers' patience with inflation is wearing thin on both sides of the Atlantic.
大西洋兩岸的消費(fèi)者對(duì)通貨膨脹的耐心都正在逐漸消失。
Investors expect margins to narrow.
投資者預(yù)計(jì)利潤(rùn)率將會(huì)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日俄羅斯坦克開(kāi)進(jìn)烏克蘭的田地后，美國(guó)、歐洲和中國(guó)的大型食品公司的股價(jià)都受到了沖擊。
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