原文標(biāo)題
Food producers
Yes, they can (and box, and package)
Fat times for America’s big food
食品生產(chǎn)商
是的，他們可以（罐裝、盒裝和包裝）

美國(guó)大食品的豐收期

Inflation has yet to dent big food’s earnings
通貨膨脹尚未削弱大食品的收益

[Paragraph 1]

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

多年來(lái)，營(yíng)養(yǎng)學(xué)家一直建議美國(guó)人避開(kāi)雜貨店的中央過(guò)道，而是從外圍貨架上購(gòu)買商品。

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.

鮮肉、奶制品、新鮮水果和蔬菜經(jīng)常排列在超市的外圍貨架上；而不太健康的罐裝、盒裝、包裝等加工食品則堆放在中間貨架上。

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.

一些購(gòu)物者已經(jīng)聽(tīng)從了這個(gè)建議：近來(lái)罐裝湯的銷量一直低迷，而新鮮冷藏湯的銷量卻在增長(zhǎng)。

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.

現(xiàn)在，包裝食品的制造商正在卷土重來(lái)。貨架上的產(chǎn)品反映了經(jīng)濟(jì)狀況的變化。

[Paragraph 2]

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.

康尼格拉擁有黃油爆米花、鳥(niǎo)之眼冷凍蔬菜和鄧肯·海恩斯蛋糕粉等品牌。本月，它公布了最新季度報(bào)告，業(yè)績(jī)亮眼，銷售額和利潤(rùn)均同比增長(zhǎng)。

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

該公司預(yù)計(jì)截至 5 月的財(cái)年收益將高于此前的預(yù)期。

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

通用磨坊是銷售罐頭湯、冷凍蔬菜和早餐麥片的公司，幾周前，它公布了同樣亮眼的季度業(yè)績(jī)報(bào)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.

麥考密克是銷售香料和調(diào)味品的公司，J.M斯馬克公司以果醬和花生醬聞名，這兩家公司業(yè)績(jī)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%.
投資者們收獲頗豐：康尼格拉股價(jià)在過(guò)去12個(gè)月中上漲了8%，而大型美國(guó)公司標(biāo)普500指數(shù)下跌了7%。通用磨坊的股價(jià)上漲了23%。

[Paragraph 3]

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

對(duì)于美國(guó)包裝食品公司來(lái)說(shuō)，過(guò)去十年是饑荒年和豐收年的循環(huán)。

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

艱苦歲月是疫情結(jié)束之前的幾年，那時(shí)候餐廳因疫情關(guān)閉，人們囤積了食品。

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.

政府發(fā)放的刺激消費(fèi)券意味著購(gòu)物者手頭寬裕，而且食品公司也沒(méi)有被他們的零售合作伙伴嘮叨著要提供折扣。

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，人們開(kāi)始再次外出就餐，加上俄烏戰(zhàn)造成的大宗商品價(jià)格沖擊推高了成本，這對(duì)銷量造成了壓力。

[Paragraph 4]

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

美國(guó)大型食品公司的業(yè)績(jī)表明，該行業(yè)正在設(shè)法渡過(guò)最近的動(dòng)蕩期。

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，疫情可能已經(jīng)改變了消費(fèi)者的習(xí)慣，導(dǎo)致冷凍和包裝食品的消費(fèi)量持續(xù)增長(zhǎng)。

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

與第一次疫情相比，美國(guó)人現(xiàn)在在家里吃飯的次數(shù)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.

根據(jù)安永咨詢公司的數(shù)據(jù)，近3/4的消費(fèi)者并不會(huì)仔細(xì)區(qū)分冷凍蔬菜和新鮮蔬菜，消費(fèi)者將它們視為同一類別。

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，盡管通貨膨脹導(dǎo)致購(gòu)物者在購(gòu)買化妝品或家居用品等物品時(shí)從高檔品牌產(chǎn)品轉(zhuǎn)向零售商更便宜的自營(yíng)品牌，但他們?nèi)匀辉敢鉃閮?yōu)質(zhì)食品支付更高的價(jià)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.

尤其是二三十歲的年輕人似乎更愿意將更多的錢花在食物上，而且與年長(zhǎng)者相比，他們不太可能消費(fèi)降級(jí)。

[Paragraph 5]

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

食品巨頭還受益于多樣化的產(chǎn)品和品牌，它們正在適應(yīng)不斷變化的消費(fèi)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“無(wú)皮披薩”——可放在微波爐里加熱的醬料、奶酪和肉的盒子--以吸引那些低碳水化合物飲食的人群。

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

其純素食“能量碗”似乎是為愛(ài)吃鱷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.

通用磨坊將麥片作為課后零食和晚上甜點(diǎn)的替代品來(lái)營(yíng)銷，而不僅限于當(dāng)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.
盡管他們成功做到了根據(jù)成本來(lái)快速提高價(jià)格，以維持甚至擴(kuò)大利潤(rùn)率，但他們可能太自滿而沒(méi)有采用“減量不減價(jià)”的策略。

[Paragraph 6]
Can the good times last?

好時(shí)光能否持續(xù)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.

最大的問(wèn)號(hào)在銷量上，價(jià)格上漲和日益臨近的經(jīng)濟(jì)放緩可能會(huì)抑制銷量，這可能會(huì)促使購(gòu)物者開(kāi)始節(jié)約用錢。

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

如果工資增長(zhǎng)放緩或失業(yè)率上升，到某個(gè)時(shí)候人們可能會(huì)削減小型奢侈品的消費(fèi)。

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.

如果一家食品公司決定降低價(jià)格，以犧牲競(jìng)爭(zhēng)對(duì)手的利益來(lái)增加銷量，則可能引起一輪價(jià)格戰(zhàn)。

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

不過(guò)，就目前而言，食品制造商將繼續(xù)收獲和平紅利。

（恭喜讀完，本篇英語(yǔ)詞匯量711左右）
原文出自：2023年4月15日《The Economist》Business版塊

精讀筆記來(lái)源于：自由英語(yǔ)之路

本文翻譯整理: Irene本文編輯校對(duì): Irene
僅供個(gè)人英語(yǔ)學(xué)習(xí)交流使用。

【補(bǔ)充資料】（來(lái)自于網(wǎng)絡(luò)）
康尼格拉公司（Conagra）是一家總部位于芝加哥的公司，其主要業(yè)務(wù)是生產(chǎn)和銷售食品?？的岣窭镜牧闶垲~每年大約有120億美元，飯店和其他機(jī)構(gòu)的買賣業(yè)務(wù)每年大約有100億美元。是美國(guó)最大的商品服務(wù)提供商，第二大的蔬菜類產(chǎn)品提供商。

通用磨坊食品公司（General Mills）是一家總部位于美國(guó)明尼蘇達(dá)州明尼阿波利斯黃金谷的食品公司，主要從事食品加工業(yè)務(wù)，是世界第六大食品公司之一。

麥考密克公司（McCormick & Company）是一家美國(guó)食品公司，主要從事香料、調(diào)味品、調(diào)味料等食品的生產(chǎn)、銷售和分銷業(yè)務(wù)。

JM斯馬克公司J.M. Smucker Company是一家美國(guó)食品和飲料制造商，總部位于俄亥俄州奧爾維爾市。它成立于1897年，最初是蘋果黃油制造商。目前有三個(gè)主要業(yè)務(wù)部門：消費(fèi)者食品、寵物食品和咖啡。

【重點(diǎn)句子】（3個(gè)）
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.
現(xiàn)在，包裝食品的制造商正在卷土重來(lái)。貨架上的產(chǎn)品反映了經(jīng)濟(jì)狀況的變化。

For America’s packaged-food firms, the past decade was a cycle of famine and feast.
對(duì)于美國(guó)包裝食品公司來(lái)說(shuō)，過(guò)去十年是饑荒年和豐收年的循環(huán)。

The food giants also benefit from a diverse range of products and brands, which they are adapting to changing consumer tastes.
食品巨頭還受益于多樣化的產(chǎn)品和品牌，它們正在適應(yīng)不斷變化的消費(fèi)者口味。