美国植物基肉类替代品的销售在一周内同比激增200%。与此同时，真正肉类的产能正因此次疫情而受到影响。



The coronavirus pandemic is reshaping the US meat market, with sales of plant-based substitutes surging while closures of slaughterhouses and processing plants threaten production of the real thing. 6park.com
新型冠状病毒肺炎（COVID-19，即“2019冠状病毒病”）疫情正在重塑美国肉类市场，植物基的肉类替代品销售激增，而屠宰场和肉类加工厂的关闭则威胁真正的肉类的生产。
 6park.com
US sales of plant-based meat substitutes jumped 200 per cent in the week ending April 18, compared with the same period last year, and surged by 265 per cent over an eight-week period, according to consumer data group Nielsen. This compares with jumps of 30 per cent and 39 per cent respectively over the same periods for fresh meat. 6park.com
消费市场研究机构尼尔森(Nielsen)的数据显示，美国植物基肉类替代品的销售在截至4月18日的一周内同比激增200%，在8周内销售飙升265%。而同期鲜肉销售则分别增长了30%与39%。



Though plant-based meat still accounts for a small portion of the US protein market, it has been rapidly growing in popularity in recent years — a trend that has been accelerated by the crisis, said Bruce Friedrich at the Good Food Institute. 6park.com
“好食品研究所”(Good Food Institute)的布鲁斯?弗里德里克(Bruce Friedrich)表示，虽然植物肉在美国蛋白质市场上所占份额仍然很小，但近年来其受欢迎程度迅速上升——这一趋势因新冠危机而加速。
 6park.com
Compared with real meat, the production of plant-based protein is also more automated and less reliant on labour, so is less vulnerable to staffing shortages. “With plant-based meat, supply chain factors are much easier to manipulate,” said Mr Friedrich. 6park.com
与真正的肉类相比，植物基蛋白质的生产更加自动化，对劳动力的依赖程度也更低，因此比较不容易受到人员短缺的影响。弗里德里克表示：“植物肉的供应链因素更易操控。”



By contrast, there has been a sharp fall in US meat production capacity as many facilities close or slow down their operations as a result of the virus. As of Monday, 32 per cent of US pork production capacity will be offline, said Steve Meyer, economist at consultancy Kerns & Associates. Meanwhile Bill Lapp, president of consultancy Advanced Economic Solutions, said beef production capacity was down by 14 per cent. 6park.com
相比之下，美国肉类产能急剧下降，因为许多工厂因新冠病毒而停产或放慢了生产速度。咨询机构Kerns & Associates的经济学家史蒂夫?迈耶(Steve Meyer)表示，截至周一，美国32%的猪肉产能将停摆。与此同时，咨询机构Advanced Economic Solutions的总裁比尔?拉普(Bill Lapp)表示，牛肉产能下降了14%。
 6park.com
Last week Tyson Foods, the largest US meat producer, closed two large pork plants in Indiana and Iowa, and a beef plant in Washington, as workers underwent testing. Two more US pork packers announced plant shutdowns on Friday, bringing the total to seven, Mr Meyer said. 6park.com
上周，美国最大的肉类生产商泰森食品(Tyson Foods)因员工接受检测而关闭了印第安纳州和艾奥瓦州的两家大型猪肉厂以及华盛顿的一家牛肉厂。迈耶表示，上周五，又有两家美国猪肉加工企业宣布停产，停产企业总数达到7家。



“You're going to see tight supplies at grocery stores for some period of time if it stays like it is right now, with that many plants being closed,” said Ron Prestage of Prestage Farms, which runs a pork plant in Iowa. 6park.com
普雷斯特奇农场(Prestage Farms)的罗恩?普雷斯特奇(Ron Prestage)表示：“如果现状持续，那么多家工厂纷纷停工，那么一段时期内食杂店的供应将会吃紧。”普雷斯特奇农场在艾奥瓦州经营着一家猪肉厂。



The bottleneck has meant that the price of pork destined for retailers has jumped, while that for live pigs has fallen sharply as sales to slaughterhouses have dropped significantly. 6park.com
这一瓶颈意味着，面向零售商的猪肉价格已大幅上涨，而生猪的价格则大幅下跌，因为卖往屠宰场的生猪数量大幅下降。
 6park.com
Wholesale pork prices have surged by more than half since early April to $77.48 per 100lb last Friday, according to the US Department of Agriculture. Earlier this month, prices for pigs sold to plants fell to a 17-year low on Chicago’s futures market, reflecting falling demand from the packers, although they have since rebounded. 6park.com
美国农业部(US Department of Agriculture)的数据显示，4月初以来，猪肉的批发价格已上涨逾50%，上周五达到每100磅77.48美元。本月早些时候，芝加哥期货市场上出售给工厂的生猪价格跌至17年来的新低，反映出猪肉加工商的需求下降，尽管此后价格有所反弹。
 6park.com
The Maschhoffs, a large Illinois-based pig-farming business, said shipments had fallen by about 20 per cent. “The meat supply is there,” said co-owner Julie Maschhoff. “It’s just that the logistics of the food chain have gotten a little convoluted.” 6park.com
总部位于伊利诺伊州的大型养猪企业Maschhoffs称发货量下降了约20%。“肉类供应没有问题。”该公司的共同所有人朱莉?马施霍夫(Julie Maschhoff)表示。“只是食品链的物流环节的问题有些复杂。”



Plant outages have hit meat packers’ shares. Last week Bernstein downgraded Tyson’s stock because of plant closures and the likelihood that many employees would not come to work, with shares down 5 per cent on the previous week. 6park.com
工厂停产打击了肉类加工商的股价。上周，伯恩斯坦(Bernstein)下调了泰森的股票评级，原因是工厂关闭，许多员工可能不会复工，泰森的股价较前一周下跌5%。
 6park.com
Beyond Meat's shares, on the other hand, rallied by more than 40 per cent last week, on the news of the plant closures and also an announcement from Starbucks that it was going to use the company's plant-based protein in products in its Chinese stores. 6park.com
另一方面，Beyond Meat的股价上周涨幅超过40%，此前媒体报道肉类加工厂停工，且星巴克(Starbucks)宣布打算在其中国门店的产品中使用该公司的植物基蛋白。



Some plant-based protein companies have argued that the pandemic has underlined the links between public health and the consumption of animal meat, and given consumers a reason to switch to plant-based food. 6park.com
一些植物基蛋白企业称，新冠肺炎疫情突显出公共卫生与动物肉消费之间的联系，并给了消费者一个转向植物基食品的理由。
 6park.com
However, Mr Prestage said he did not see plant-based meat substitutes “as being a real big game-changer”. 6park.com
然而，普雷斯特奇表示他并不认为植物基肉类替代品“真能在很大程度上改变游戏格局”。
 6park.com
“Some people believe in the vegan agenda. That’s their right to do that, and they’re going to stick with it,” he said. “But I don’t think that it’s likely to significantly replace the great majority of Americans’ taste for real meat.”   6park.com
“有些人信奉素食主义。那是他们的权利，他们也会坚持吃素。”他说，“但我认为这不太可能显著地取代绝大多数美国人对真正的肉类的喜好。”