酷兔英语


Fonterra Co-Operative Group Ltd.'s Andrew Ferrier is looking for greener pastures.


新西兰奶业巨头恒天然集团(Fonterra Co-Operative Group Ltd.)首席执行长安德鲁•费里尔(Andrew Ferrier)正在寻找更加天然的牧场。



As a growing middle class across Asia push up demand and prices for milk, the dairy giant's chief executive looks to expand operations outside its home base of New Zealand.


随着亚洲日益壮大的中产阶级推高牛奶需求与价格,费里尔希望在大本营之外扩大运营规模。



Fonterra, which produces about a third of the world's internationally traded dairy products, is pushing ahead with a plan to build farms in China, although its strategy there was hurt in 2008 when a contaminated milk scandal led to the death of several infants. The tainted milk was traced back to 22 companies, including Shijiazhuang Sanlu Group Co., in which Fonterra held a 43% stake.


奶制品国际贸易总量有三分之一左右都是恒天然生产。该集团正在推进一个在中国修建养殖场的计划,不过在2008年,中国发生了导致数名婴儿死亡的毒奶丑闻,让恒天然这一战略遭受挫折。据查,毒奶来自22家公司,其中包括恒天然持股43%的石家庄三鹿集团。



Fonterra maintains that it wasn't aware of Sanlu's decision to continue producing infant milk products contaminated by the chemical.


恒天然坚称,它当时不知道三鹿继续生产三聚氰胺婴幼儿奶制品的决定。



Formed in 2001, Fonterra supplies milk, cheese and yogurt to 140 markets world-wide, including Egypt where it last week resumed operations after suspending them in the wake of the recent political unrest. Generating 16.73 billion New Zealand dollars (US$12.74 billion) annually, the company employs a complicated hedging strategy to smooth out the effect of foreign exchange fluctuations up to 18 months in advance.


2001年成立的恒天然向全世界140个国家供应牛奶、奶酪和酸奶,其中包括埃及。恒天然在埃及最近发生政治骚乱后暂停营业,上周恢复营业。该公司年收入167.3亿新西兰元,合127.4亿美元。它采用了一套复杂的套保策略,最早提前18个月对冲将来汇率波动的影响。



Born in Canada, Mr. Ferrier started his career with U.K. sugar and food-ingredients producer Tate & Lyle and progressed in the sugar business in Canada, the U.S. and Mexico.


费里尔生于加拿大,职业生涯始于英国的糖与食材生产商Tate & Lyle,然后在加拿大、美国和墨西哥的食糖行业逐步成长。



At 51 years old Mr. Ferrier is a keen ice hockey player. 'It makes me feel good because I can still keep up with these younger Kiwis,' he says. 'Being Canadian, it's genetic in me.'


现年51岁的费里尔热衷打冰上曲棍球。他说,这项运动让他感觉良好,因为他仍旧不输那些年轻的新西兰人。他说,作为加拿大人,这是我体内的基因。



Mr. Ferrier recently spoke to The Wall Street Journal about China, rising milk prices and the controversysurrounding genetically modified food at Fonterra's headquarters in Auckland, New Zealand.


最近在恒天然位于新西兰奥克兰的总部,费里尔接受《华尔街日报》采访,谈起中国、牛奶涨价和转基因食品引起的争议。



Excerpts:


以下是访谈摘录:



WSJ: What are the main drivers behind the reemergence of global food price inflation?


《华尔街日报》:推动全球食品价格再度上涨的主要因素是什么?



Mr. Ferrier: The underlying factors that underpinned food price inflation in 2007 and 2008 have not gone away: Growth in population, wealthier societies looking for more food. Volatility is being exacerbated by a lot of weather events around the world.


费里尔:支撑2007年到2008年食品价格上涨的基础因素仍然存在:人口增长,变得更加富裕的社会寻找更多的食物。全世界大量天气事件加剧了波动。



Fundamentally, we all have to think about how we sustainably feed the world over the long term. We know that we are not going to be able to feed the opportunities in growth in dairy out of New Zealand. There isn't the space for that. So as we talk to customers about their needs, we see they are looking for safe healthy milk in the fastest growing economies. [That's] why we have gone into farming in China.


从根本上讲,我们全都需要思考怎样长期可持续地为世界提供食物。我们知道自己没有能力满足新西兰以外的奶业增长机会。所以我们在跟客户谈他们需求的时候,我们看到的是他们在增长最快的各种经济体中寻找安全健康的牛奶。我们正是因为这个原因在中国从事养殖业的。



WSJ: What else is pushing up global milk prices?


《华尔街日报》:推高全球牛奶价格的原因是什么?



Mr. Ferrier: We see a very steady rise in global consumption of dairy products. [As] developing nations get wealthier, there is a bigger middle class looking for healthier foods. Some people say they are switching from carbohydrate-based diets to protein-based diets, fueling a need for protein and dairy.


费里尔:我们认为全球奶制品消费正在非常稳定地增长。随着发展中国家变得越来越富裕,这些国家出现了一个更加壮大的中产阶级在寻找更加健康的食品。一些人说,他们正在从以碳水化合物为基础的膳食转吃蛋白质为基础的膳食,这就提高了蛋白质和奶制品的需求。



We are [also] seeing a rise in the underlying cost of production around the world, because fuel prices are up, fertilizer prices are up, feed prices are up.


我们还认为,全世界的基础生产成本也在上涨,因为燃料价格上涨了,肥料价格上涨了,饲料价格上涨了。



WSJ: How are you building a presence in China and what other markets are you interested in?


《华尔街日报》:你们是怎样在的中国扩大存在的?你们感兴趣的其他市场是哪些?



Mr. Ferrier: It's not the same kind of farming that we do in New Zealand. In China we have to bring grain to the cows. We are in the middle of building our second farm; [a] third [is] scoped out and we expect to be involved in multiple farms that can supply fresh milk into the Chinese economy. Safe healthy milk.


费里尔:这跟我们在新西兰所做的养殖是不一样的。在中国,我们得把粮食拿来给牛奶吃。我们正在修建我们的第二处养殖场,第三个已经研究过,我们预计将涉及多处可以为中国经济供应新鲜牛奶的养殖场。安全健康的牛奶。



We feel a bit of an obligation to help the Chinese get back on their feet. It was a tragic thing that happened a couple of years ago. It showed the lack of control within their supply chain. We want to make sure that we are running the business that is producing the milk [in] every step of the operation.


我们觉得有一定责任帮助中国奶业振兴。两三年前的事情是一个悲剧,说明他们的供应链缺乏控制,我们希望确保制奶过程中的每一个步骤都是我们在运营。



We are also in discussion with a couple of key players in India now. Traditionally, they have been self-sufficient in dairy but it is looking like their consumption is going to grow faster than they can produce it.


我们现在也在跟印度几个关键业者谈判。过去他们的奶制品是自给自足的,但他们的消费速度看来即将要超过产能扩张的速度。



WSJ: What about the controversy over genetically modified food?


《华尔街日报》:能谈谈转基因食品引起的争议吗?



Mr. Ferrier: It has become quite mainstream. I think ultimately that is a good thing. We won't sell genetically modified American milk products here in New Zealand because our consumers don't want them. Same thing in Australia.


费里尔:转基因食品已经变得相当主流。我认为它最终是好事。我们不会在新西兰出售转基因的美国奶制品,因为我们的消费者不想要。澳大利亚也一样。



We do a lot of selective breeding. We've got a division that looks at the breeding of cows to get better attributes out of the milk, more protein for example, maybe less fat, less saturated fat.


我们的选育工作做得很多。我们有一个部门就是研究牛奶的育种,以获得更加优质的牛奶成份,比如蛋白质更多,或许脂肪更少,饱和脂肪更少。



Rebecca Howard