澳洲女首富竭力推动对华牛肉出口

Gina Rinehart has faced down larger rivals, bureaucrats and even family to build Hancock Prospecting into a mining force. Now Australia’s richest woman is tackling a tiny foe that could derail a A$1bn plan to ship live cattle to China.

为将汉考克勘探公司(Hancock Prospecting)打造成一家采矿业巨擘，吉娜•莱因哈特(Gina Rinehart)战胜了比自己强大的对手，克服了官僚机构设置的种种障碍，甚至还顶住了来自家人的阻力。今天，这位澳大利亚女首富面对的敌人是区区小昆虫，因为这些家伙有让价值10亿澳元、向中国出口活牛的计划泡汤的危险。

The culicoides midge transmits bluetongue — a virus that affects livestock and is endemic in northern Australia, a vast area of rolling pasture larger than France, Spain and Italy combined. Mrs Rinehart owns several cattle stations in the region and wants to export up to 300,000 live cattle a year to meet surging meat demand in China.

库蠓会传播蓝舌病——这种病毒会令牲畜感染，面积大于法国、西班牙和意大利国土面积总和的澳大利亚北部地区是蓝舌病的流行区域。莱因哈特在这个遍地牧场的地区拥有多个养牛场，并计划每年向中国出口多达30万头活牛，以满足中国急剧增长的肉类需求。

“Many people are aware of the changing demographics in China,” Mrs Rinehart told the Financial Times. “A rapidly expanding middle class have increasing disposable incomes as China’s economic growth continues. These are people wanting more prime cuts and fresh beef.”

“许多人都注意到了中国人口结构的不断变化，” 莱因哈特对《金融时报》记者说，“随着中国经济的持续增长，中产阶级群体在快速扩大，其可支配收入不断增加。他们对优质新鲜牛肉的需求越来越大。”

The strategy plays to Canberra’s ambition to capitalise on China’s “dining boom” and transform its agricultural industry to become a food bowl for Asia. But first it must persuade Chinese regulators to loosen quarantine rules at a time when Beijing is prioritising food safety after a series of health scandals.

为了充分利用中国的“食品消费热潮”，澳大利亚政府制定了雄心勃勃的计划，要将其农业发展成为亚洲食品生产基地——莱因哈特为公司制定的策略正是顺应政府的这一雄心。在爆出一系列食品安全丑闻后，中国政府将食品安全作为重中之重，而澳大利亚政府首先必须在这样一个时候说服中国监管机构放松检疫规定。

Australia is one of the world’s largest exporters of live cattle, shipping about A$1.5bn of livestock a year to countries including Indonesia, Vietnam and Israel. But exporters want to kick-start a China trade to diversify their markets in a volatile industry still licking its wounds from a ban on exports to Indonesia in 2011 over animal welfare concerns.

澳大利亚是全球最大的活牛出口国之一，每年向印度尼西亚、越南和以色列等国家出口约15亿澳元的活牛。肉牛养殖是一个动荡的行业。2011年，澳大利亚因印尼屠宰手段引发动物福利关切而禁止向印尼出口活牛，澳大利亚肉牛养殖行业至今还未从这一禁令的打击中恢复。为了开辟多元化市场，出口商期望做成中国的生意。

A bilateral trade deal signed in 2014 and a subsequent agreement on a health protocol created a framework for live exports. But onerous quarantine restrictions imposed by China on cattle from bluetongue regions continue to make the trade uneconomic from northern Australia, which hosts 60 per cent of the country’s herd.

中澳两国于2014年签署的双边贸易协定、以及随后签署的一项牲畜贸易健康协议，为活牛出口制定了框架。但是，中国对蓝舌病流行区的活牛实施的严格检疫限制，仍然令澳大利亚北部地区的活牛出口无法实现经济效益，而该地区的活牛存栏量占澳大利亚总量的60%。

“China is a massive, massive market. [But] in the China market there is a focus on bluetongue,” said Stuart Kemp, chief executive of the Northern Territory Livestock Exporters Association.

“中国是一个非常非常庞大的市场。[但是]中国市场对蓝舌病的关注度非常高，”北领地畜牧出口商协会(Northern Territory Livestock Exporters Association)首席执行官斯图尔特•肯普(Stuart Kemp)说。

Mr Kemp says that Australia has not experienced the most severe cases of the disease, which can affect livestock’s economic performance by preventing them from gaining weight and can be fatal in sheep. He understood the Chinese authorities’ initial caution but is hopeful Beijing will open the trade to northern Australia — a move that could prompt an investment bonanza in a struggling regional economy.

肯普还指出，澳大利亚没有出现过最严重的蓝舌病病例，这种病可能令牲畜无法增加体重、并导致绵羊死亡，从而影响牲畜养殖的经济效益。对中国政府初期采取审慎措施，他表示理解。但他希望北京能够开放与澳大利亚北部地区的贸易——对于处于困境的该地区经济而言，此举可能会掀起一波投资热潮。

Some companies have made a few one-off live cattle shipments to China from southern Australia, outside the bluetongue zone. But the greater shipment distances have so far failed to spur exporters to create a viable industry, with just 1,200 animals exported to China in the past year.

有些公司已从澳大利亚南部的非蓝舌病流行区向中国出口了少量批次的活牛。但是，到目前为止，由于出口批次稀疏，出口商没有动力将对华出口发展为一项具有经济效益的业务——过去这一年澳大利亚向中国出口活牛数量仅为1200头。

Mrs Rinehart, who made her fortune feeding China’s insatiable demand for iron ore, has teamed up with four Chinese companies — Sino-Australia Modern Industry Park, New Hope Group, Zhejiang Seaport Group and Harvest Fund — in an effort to change the cattle trade’s economics by enabling shipments from northern Australia. The strategy depends on Chinese officials relaxing the 60-day pre-export quarantine restrictions for cattle from bluetongue areas. 在中国对铁矿石

需求旺盛的那些年，莱因哈特赚了个盆满钵满。现在，为了促成澳大利亚北部向中国出口活牛、从而改变养牛业的经济状况，她与中澳现代产业园(Sino-Australia Modern Industry Park)、新希望集团(New Hope Group)、浙江海港集团(Zhejiang Seaport Group)以及嘉实基金(Harvest Fund)这4家中国公司建立了合作关系。这一策略的实施还有取决于中国政府放宽如下限制：对从蓝舌病流行区出口的活牛，需隔离检疫60天。

“The key to the development of the live cattle trade is gaining long-term secure access to a major new market . . . a market of 200m people within a radius of 200km living in the Yangtze Delta region,” said Garry Korte, chief executive of Hancock. “We are still working through several regulatory matters.”

“发展活牛贸易的关键是获得进入一个大型新市场的长期、牢靠的准入权……在200公里的半径内居住着2亿居民的长江三角洲地区就是这样的市场。我们仍在解决几项监管问题，” 汉考克首席执行官加里•科特(Garry Korte)说。

In an effort to overcome Chinese regulators’ concerns, Hancock has formed a joint venture, Auzou Beef, with its Chinese partners to build a cattle receiving and processing facility on Jintang island near Shanghai. Jintang forms the centrepiece of a proposed Sino-Australian industrial park pitched as a gateway for agricultural and other exports into China. “As a beef processing hub, the island of Jintang is very unique because it can meet the highest biosecurity and animal welfare standards,” said Alex Zhang, director of Auzou Beef.

为了消除中国监管机构的顾虑，汉考克已经与中国合作伙伴组建了一家名为Auzou Beef的合资公司，计划在浙江省舟山市金塘岛兴建一个活牛接收和加工中心。金塘岛是中澳现代产业园计划的重头戏，该产业园的目标是成为农产品和其他产品出口至中国的门户。Auzou Beef的总监Alex Zhang说：“金塘岛作为牛肉加工中心的独特之处在于，它不仅能够达到最高的生物安全标准，而且也能够达到最高的动物福利标准。”

Mr Zhang says the China-Australia relationship needs to evolve from simple trade into more integrated industry co-operation.

张先生表示，中澳贸易关系需要从简单贸易向更加一体化的行业合作转变。

In Coomalie, an hour south of Darwin, Mr Kemp provides a tour of a new quarantine station with cutting-edge traceability technology that helps monitor cattle throughout their journey from farms in Northern Australia to retailers in Vietnam and Indonesia.

在达尔文以南一小时车程的库玛丽(Coomalie)，肯普带领我们参观了一个新的检疫站。该站采用最尖端的可溯源技术，让活牛从澳大利亚北部地区的农场、到越南和印度尼西亚零售商手中的全过程都可追溯。

“This station has technology similar to the facial recognition systems used in airports,” he said. “We would want to build facilities specifically for the Chinese market if the trade takes off.”

“这个检疫站拥有有类似于机场使用的面部识别技术，”肯特说，“如果对华出口起飞，我们要为中国市场专门兴建检疫场。”

Similar quarantine facilities, along with feedlots and processing facilities, would be established on Jintang island in a bid to satisfy Chinese regulators that the bluetongue virus poses no danger.

为了让中国监管部门确信澳大利亚活牛不会带来蓝舌病毒风险，金塘岛上还会建立类似的检疫站、以及育肥场和加工厂。

“The receiving depot will be on an island, not mainland China, providing an effective quarantine for any bluetongue,” said Mr Korte. “We were encouraged to proceed with a deal because we know we have the backing of the Australia and Chinese governments based on their principles detailed within the China free-trade agreement.”

“为了对蓝舌病进行有效检疫，我们会将接收仓库建在岛上，而不是中国陆地上，” 科特说， “我们对推进交易非常有信心，因为我们知道，我们会得到澳中两国政府根据中国自由贸易协定中确定的详细原则所给予的支持。”

China’s quarantine agency did not respond to a request for comment; Hancock and its Chinese partners are hopeful a decision will be made by the end of the year.

中国的检疫部门没有回复我们的置评请求。汉考克及其中国合作伙伴希望中国政府能够在今年年底前作出决定。