【导读】由于西班牙橄榄受干旱影响减产，高档食用油——橄榄油的价格飙升；假以时日，或许其他橄榄油生产国能对占统治地位的西班牙造成冲击？正是：

炎炎九日下瑶池，
萧瑟秋风落泪时。
遥看大洋缥缈处，
春风拂煦和平枝，


Olive-oil prices 橄榄油的价格

Drizzle and drought 久旱难逢及时雨，小打小闹能翻天？

The soaring cost of dressing a salad连色拉油都快要用不起了！

Sep 22nd 2012 | from the print edition
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Treasure groves 珍宝园林

ANCIENT artifacts unearthed by archaeologists show that olive oil has been an integral part of Mediterranean life for thousands of years. Appetite for the stuff has since spread: supermarket shelves in northern Europe and other rich countries bow under the weight of an array of oils. The Mediterranean, with its baking summers and warm, wet winters, usually provides an ideal climate for olive groves. But a drought in Spain is having a dramatic impact on the market, according to Thomas Mielke of Oil World, a research firm.
考古学家发掘出来的古代艺术品告诉我们，几千年来，橄榄油就是地中海沿岸人民生活不可或缺的一部分。随着悠悠岁月，对这种食品的爱好四处传播：北欧国家与其他发达国家的超级市场货架上充斥着各色橄榄油品。地中海国家夏季炎热，冬季温暖湿润，这种气候对橄榄园林极为理想。但供职于研究公司“食油世界”的托马斯•米尔柯（Thomas Mielke of Oil World）声称，西班牙的干旱对市场造成了戏剧化的冲击。

Spain is the Saudi Arabia of olive oil, accounting for nearly half of global production. The absence of rain in Spain might reduce total global output by around 20% compared with a year ago, when the world was awash in over 3m tonnes of olive oil.
正如沙特阿拉伯在石油领域的地位一样，西班牙持橄榄油生产领域之牛耳，产量几达全球之半。去年全世界的橄榄油产量高达300多万吨，但由于西班牙干旱缺雨，今年的产量或许会比去年缩水20%。

High levels of production then had pushed prices to a nine-year low. But over the past three months the price of extra virgin olive oil, the best-quality stuff, has risen by over 50%, to about $3,400 a tonne. Stocks left over from last year’s bumper harvest are helping to keep price rises in check but prices over $4,000 a tonne are in prospect. And in some respects last year’s overproduction is compounding the problem of the drought. Record yields left olive trees weakened by the strain and unable to bear as much fruit this year.
去年由于产品数量庞大，橄榄油价曾被压到了9年来的最低点；但在过去3个月里，质量最高的特级初榨橄榄油价格上涨已超过50%，达到每吨大约3400美元的水平。尽管去年丰收而囤积下来的货物现在压制了价格的上扬，但每吨售价突破4000美元大关将为期不远。去年的过量产出在某种程度上与干旱有共同作用，因为创纪录的产量让橄榄树因受到的压力过大而虚弱不堪，今年无法结出同样多的果实。

High prices are a welcome boost to other parts of southern Europe. Italy and Greece are the next-largest producers, responsible for another 20% of global output. But the surge in prices may also help some parts of the world not usually associated with olive groves.
南欧其他国家欢迎橄榄油价格高企这一令人振奋的好消息。意大利和希腊的产量占全球总产量的20%，是仅次于西班牙的橄榄油生产大国。价格的高峰可能也会让一些世界上不大栽种橄榄的地方得益。

Europe’s big producers have long since looked beyond home markets, where consumption has peaked. Northern Europe, whose holidaymakers have become accustomed to the flavours of the south, are consuming more olive oil. Germans are drizzling five times more and the British nearly ten times more olive oil over their food than in 1990. America is the world’s third-largest market, with demand growing by almost 6% a year for two decades, according to Rabobank.
欧洲橄榄油生产大国的国内消费市场已经饱和，它们早就盯紧了国外市场。北欧国家人民在度假时已经适应了南欧的口味，这些国家现在的橄榄油消费增加了。德国人虽说消费量不大，但已是1990年的5倍，而英国人的消费量则几乎是那时的10倍。据荷兰协作银行（Rabobank）统计，美国的消费量在20年间几乎每年递增6%，现在其市场居世界第三。

The bank sniffs an opportunity for California’s olive growers. Higher prices for imports, the chance that the EU will cut subsidies and long-running concerns over the quality of imports (“extra virgin” is a loose category) all stand to improve the competitiveness of costlier Californian oil. American olive oil might grab as much as 5% of the domestic market by 2017, says Rabobank. High-quality oil imported from newcomers such as Australia and Chile also stands to gain.
该银行察觉到这是加州橄榄种植者的良机。进口价格高涨、欧盟可能将要削减补贴以及长期以来对进口橄榄油质量的担心（特级初榨只是一个大略范畴），这些因素都能让价格更高的加州橄榄油更富竞争力。荷协银行认为，美国橄榄油或许能在2017年攫取多达5%的国内市场份额。从澳大利亚与智利等新兴生产国进口的高质量橄榄油的地位也会增强。

Spanish olive-oil exporters are unconcerned. Australian presses squeeze out just 20,000 tonnes a year and California’s merely 7,000 tonnes, compared with 1m tonnes from Spain. Maybe they should fret more. Europe’s winemakers, also dominant since antiquity, ignored the early signs of the rise of New World vintners.
西班牙橄榄油出口商对此不置一顾。澳大利亚年产量仅2万吨，加州更是只有区区7000吨，而西班牙的产量则高达100万吨。或许他们应该多关注一点才是。从古代起就占据统治地位的欧洲葡萄酒厂商就曾对美洲葡萄酒酿造者崛起的早期迹象漠然视之。