《经济学人》双语：美国大食品公司的高光时刻

原文标题
Food producers
Yes, they can (and box, and package)
Fat times for America’s big food
食品生产商
是的，他们可以（罐装、盒装和包装）

美国大食品的丰收期

Inflation has yet to dent big food’s earnings
通货膨胀尚未削弱大食品的收益

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FOR YEARS nutritionists have advised Americans to steer clear of grocery shops’ central aisles and instead fill their trolleys from the outlying shelves.

多年来，营养学家一直建议美国人避开杂货店的中央过道，而是从外围货架上购买商品。

Fresh meat, dairy products, fresh fruit and vegetables often line supermarket walls; cans, boxes and other packages of less salubrious processed food are stacked in the middle.

鲜肉、奶制品、新鲜水果和蔬菜经常排列在超市的外围货架上；而不太健康的罐装、盒装、包装等加工食品则堆放在中间货架上。

Some shoppers have heeded that advice: sales of canned soup have been lacklustre in recent times, even as those of fresher refrigerated potages have grown.

一些购物者已经听从了这个建议：近来罐装汤的销量一直低迷，而新鲜冷藏汤的销量却在增长。

Now makers of the packaged stuff are staging a comeback. This says as much about shifting economic conditions as it does about products on shelves.

现在，包装食品的制造商正在卷土重来。货架上的产品反映了经济状况的变化。

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This month Conagra, which owns brands including Orville Redenbacher’s popcorn, Bird’s Eye frozen veg and Duncan Hines cake mixes, reported bumper results for its latest quarter. Sales and margins were all up year on year.

康尼格拉拥有黄油爆米花、鸟之眼冷冻蔬菜和邓肯·海恩斯蛋糕粉等品牌。本月，它公布了最新季度报告，业绩亮眼，销售额和利润均同比增长。

The company expects higher earnings in the fiscal year to May than it had previously forecast.

该公司预计截至 5 月的财年收益将高于此前的预期。

A few weeks earlier General Mills, which peddles canned soups, frozen vegetables and breakfast cereals, unveiled similarly juicy quarterly numbers.

通用磨坊是销售罐头汤、冷冻蔬菜和早餐麦片的公司，几周前，它公布了同样亮眼的季度业绩报告。

McCormick & Company, which sells spices and sauces, and the J.M. Smucker Company, best known for jams and peanut butter, are likewise having a sweet time of it.

麦考密克是销售香料和调味品的公司，J.M斯马克公司以果酱和花生酱闻名，这两家公司业绩也亮眼。

Investors are licking their lips: Conagra’s share price has risen by 8% in the past 12 months, compared with a decline of 7% for the S&P 500 index of large American firms. General Mills’ has shot up by 23%.
投资者们收获颇丰：康尼格拉股价在过去12个月中上涨了8%，而大型美国公司标普500指数下跌了7%。通用磨坊的股价上涨了23%。

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For America’s packaged-food firms, the past decade was a cycle of famine and feast.

对于美国包装食品公司来说，过去十年是饥荒年和丰收年的循环。

Lean years before the pandemic ended when restaurants closed amid covid-19 and people stocked their pantries.

艰苦岁月是疫情结束之前的几年，那时候餐厅因疫情关闭，人们囤积了食品。

Stimulus cheques from the government meant that shoppers were flush and the food companies were not being nagged by their retail partners to offer discounts.

政府发放的刺激消费券意味着购物者手头宽裕，而且食品公司也没有被他们的零售合作伙伴唠叨着要提供折扣。

Then in 2022 people began dining out again, putting pressure on volumes even as commodity-price shocks caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine pushed up costs.
然后是2022年，人们开始再次外出就餐，加上俄乌战造成的大宗商品价格冲击推高了成本，这对销量造成了压力。

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As big food’s results show, the industry is managing to ride out the latest tumult.

美国大型食品公司的业绩表明，该行业正在设法渡过最近的动荡期。

For one thing, the pandemic may have altered consumer habits, leading to a lasting bump in the consumption of frozen and packaged meals.

 一方面，疫情可能已经改变了消费者的习惯，导致冷冻和包装食品的消费量持续增长。

Americans are still eating more meals at home than they were before the first covid-19 lockdowns.

与第一次疫情相比，美国人现在在家里吃饭的次数更多。

According to EY, a consultancy, nearly three in four consumers anyway do not carefully distinguish frozen vegetables from the fresh sort, treating them as the same category.

根据安永咨询公司的数据，近3/4的消费者并不会仔细区分冷冻蔬菜和新鲜蔬菜，消费者将它们视为同一类别。

And though inflation is leading shoppers to trade down from branded products to retailers’ cheaper private-label offerings when buying things like cosmetics or home goods, they are still happy to pay a bit extra for premium grub;

另一方面，尽管通货膨胀导致购物者在购买化妆品或家居用品等物品时从高档品牌产品转向零售商更便宜的自营品牌，但他们仍然愿意为优质食品支付更高的价格；

20- and 30-somethings in particular seem readier to spend larger shares of their income on food and are less likely to trade down than their elders.

尤其是二三十岁的年轻人似乎更愿意将更多的钱花在食物上，而且与年长者相比，他们不太可能消费降级。

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The food giants also benefit from a diverse range of products and brands, which they are adapting to changing consumer tastes.

食品巨头还受益于多样化的产品和品牌，它们正在适应不断变化的消费者口味。

Conagra has introduced“crustless pizzas”—microwavable boxes of sauce, cheese and meat—to appeal to the carb-phobic.

康尼格拉推出了“无皮披萨”——可放在微波炉里加热的酱料、奶酪和肉的盒子--以吸引那些低碳水化合物饮食的人群。

Its vegan Power Bowls seem tailor-made for the avocado-loving yoga crowd.

其纯素食“能量碗”似乎是为爱吃鳄梨的瑜伽人群量身定制的。

General Mills is marketing cereal as an after-school snack and alternative to dessert in the evening, rather than just something to munch for breakfast.

通用磨坊将麦片作为课后零食和晚上甜点的替代品来营销，而不仅限于当作早餐食品。

And although they managed to maintain or even expand their margins by raising prices in line with their costs or faster, they might be all too content to take advantage of cheaper inputs without concomitant price cuts.
尽管他们成功做到了根据成本来快速提高价格，以维持甚至扩大利润率，但他们可能太自满而没有采用“减量不减价”的策略。

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Can the good times last?

好时光能否持续很久？

The biggest question-mark hangs over sales volumes, which could be crimped by those higher prices and a looming economic slowdown that may prompt shoppers to start pinching pennies.

最大的问号在销量上，价格上涨和日益临近的经济放缓可能会抑制销量，这可能会促使购物者开始节约用钱。

If wage growth slows or unemployment ticks up, at some point people will probably cut back even on smaller luxuries.

如果工资增长放缓或失业率上升，到某个时候人们可能会削减小型奢侈品的消费。

Should one food firm decide to trim prices in an effort to boost volumes at its competitors’ expense, an old-fashioned price war may erupt.

如果一家食品公司决定降低价格，以牺牲竞争对手的利益来增加销量，则可能引起一轮价格战。

For the time being, though, the foodmakers will keep reaping the peace dividend.

不过，就目前而言，食品制造商将继续收获和平红利。

（恭喜读完，本篇英语词汇量711左右）
原文出自：2023年4月15日《The Economist》Business版块

精读笔记来源于：自由英语之路

本文翻译整理: Irene本文编辑校对: Irene
仅供个人英语学习交流使用。

【补充资料】（来自于网络）
康尼格拉公司（Conagra）是一家总部位于芝加哥的公司，其主要业务是生产和销售食品。康尼格拉公司的零售额每年大约有120亿美元，饭店和其他机构的买卖业务每年大约有100亿美元。是美国最大的商品服务提供商，第二大的蔬菜类产品提供商。

通用磨坊食品公司（General Mills）是一家总部位于美国明尼苏达州明尼阿波利斯黄金谷的食品公司，主要从事食品加工业务，是世界第六大食品公司之一。

麦考密克公司（McCormick & Company）是一家美国食品公司，主要从事香料、调味品、调味料等食品的生产、销售和分销业务。

JM斯马克公司J.M. Smucker Company是一家美国食品和饮料制造商，总部位于俄亥俄州奥尔维尔市。它成立于1897年，最初是苹果黄油制造商。目前有三个主要业务部门：消费者食品、宠物食品和咖啡。

【重点句子】（3个）
Now makers of the packaged stuff are staging a comeback. This says as much about shifting economic conditions as it does about products on shelves.
现在，包装食品的制造商正在卷土重来。货架上的产品反映了经济状况的变化。

For America’s packaged-food firms, the past decade was a cycle of famine and feast.
对于美国包装食品公司来说，过去十年是饥荒年和丰收年的循环。

The food giants also benefit from a diverse range of products and brands, which they are adapting to changing consumer tastes.
食品巨头还受益于多样化的产品和品牌，它们正在适应不断变化的消费者口味。