World's Steelmakers Go Prospecting
2008年06月20日16:57
飙升的原材料成本迫使全球钢铁生产商纷纷改变策略。如今，它们不再从业内寻找合作伙伴以期增大市场影响力，而是试图通过投资矿业公司以确保铁矿石和煤炭的供应。
Soaring raw-materials costs are forcing the world's steelmakers to shift strategy. Now, rather than seeking merger partners in their own industry in hopes of gaining market clout, they are trying to protect their access to iron ore and coal by investing in mines.
在钢铁业的早期，钢铁生产商常常拥有自己的矿山，因为其他企业几乎没有这样巨额的运营资本。不过，在今天的形势下，钢铁生产商的目的却是要减少对矿业公司的依赖，后者大幅提价不断蚕食着钢铁生产的利润。不过钢铁业追逐矿产品的行动使它们与矿业巨头形成了正面交锋之势，后者也同样热切希望攫取任何拟出售的煤矿和铁矿。
Steelmakers often owned their own mines in the industry's early days because few other companies had the capital needed to operate them. But in today's climate their goal is to lessen their dependence on big mining companies, whose steep price increases are squeezing steel-making profits. The steel industry's race for minerals, however, pits it directly against those mining giants, who are equally eager to snap up any coal or iron-ore deposits that go on the block.
据知情人士周四透露，由中国钢铁制造商和主权财富基金共同组成的一个财团正参与巴西Companhia Siderurgica Nacional SA旗下铁矿石子公司股份的首轮竞购。该财团的兴趣虽然只是初露端倪，但已显示在眼下大宗商品价格大幅上涨之际，中国对保障矿石等自然资源的供应十分重视。
A consortium made up of Chinese steelmakers and China's sovereign wealth fund is entering the initial round of bidding for a stake in the iron-ore unit of Brazil's Companhia Siderurgica Nacional SA, people familiar with the situation said Thursday. The group's interest, though preliminary, shows the importance China places on securing supplies of ore and other natural resources amid the current commodities boom.
世界最大的钢铁制造商安赛乐米塔尔(ArcelorMittal)最近进行了一系列收购，在非洲、加拿大和俄罗斯收购铁矿，又在哈萨克斯坦、印度和南美收购煤矿，现在自称是世界发展最快的矿业集团。上个月，该公司斥资6.31亿美元收购了澳大利亚Macarthur Coal Ltd. 14.9%的股份，阻碍了瑞士矿业公司Xstrata PLC对后者的收购计划。Macarthur是世界最大的粉煤生产商。粉煤是炼焦煤的一种，主要用于钢铁生产。
ArcelorMittal, the world's largest steelmaker, having recently purchased a series of iron-ore mines in Africa, Canada and Russia and coal mines in Kazakhstan, India and South America, now touts itself as the 'world's fastest-growing mining group.' Last month, it spent $631 million to buy a 14.9% stake in Australia's Macarthur Coal Ltd., the world's largest producer of pulverized coal, a type of coking coal used in steel making, thwarting Swiss miner Xstrata PLC's plans to take over Macarthur.
安赛乐米塔尔的首席执行长拉克希米?米塔尔(Lakshmi Mittal)在接受采访时说，确保原材料供应的可靠来源已变得前所未有的重要。该公司的原材料自给率达到了46%左右，并且还计划用50亿美元收购一系列矿业公司，以便至2012年时实现70%的原材料自给。
'Ensuring a reliable source of raw-material supply is more important than ever,' Lakshmi Mittal, chief executive of ArcelorMittal, said in an interview. The steelmaker, whose mines supply about 46% of its raw-material needs, has set aside $5 billion to buy enough of them to provide 70% of its needs by 2012.
自2003年以来，钢铁业刮起了并购风，钢铁生产商纷纷合并，以满足发展中国家桥梁、房地产、发电厂等基础设施项目不断增长的钢铁需求。其中就包括卢森堡的安赛乐(Arcelor SA)与印度的米塔尔(Mittal Steel Co.)实施合并，另一家印度公司Tata Steel Ltd.与英国Corus Group的合并。现在，这波并购潮正逐步减缓。
Since 2003, the industry has been swept up in a wave of consolidation, with steelmakers bulking up to feed the developing world's growing demand for bridges, buildings, power plants and other infrastructure projects. Among other deals, Arcelor SA of Luxembourg merged with Mittal Steel Co. of India and another Indian company, Tata Steel Ltd., merged with Britain's Corus Group. Now, that wave is decelerating.
现在出现了另一种潮流，钢铁生产商正试图通过降低原材料价格上涨对他们的影响来获得更多利润。在过去的一年中，煤炭价格涨了一倍多，铁矿石价格涨了约70%。
Instead, steelmakers are plowing profits into reducing their vulnerability to spikes in raw-materials prices. In the past year, coal prices have more than doubled, while iron-ore prices have risen about 70%.
总部位于伦敦的钢铁研究及咨询公司MEPS International Ltd.的董事长彼得?菲什(Peter Fish)说，钢铁业的结构在发生变化；过去原材料通常占销售价格的15%，如今占了大约一半。
'The structure of the steel industry is changing,' says Peter Fish, chairman of MEPS International Ltd., a London-based steel research and consulting firm. 'It used to be that raw materials accounted for 15% of selling prices. They now account for about 50% of selling prices.'
一些分析师表示，钢铁生产商目前在大宗商品价格处于周期性顶点时出手收购矿山花了冤枉钱。不过随着矿业公司和钢铁生产商在竞争相同的有限资产，很多钢铁企业感觉它们别无选择。不仅如此，它们还表示，实现更大程度上的自给自足长期来看会带来好处。
Some analysts say steelmakers are buying at the top of the commodity cycle and overpaying as a result. But with both miners and steelmakers vying for the same limited assets, many steelmakers feel they have no choice. Moreover, they say greater self-sufficiency will pay off in the long run.
虽然中国是一个钢铁消耗大国，但它却没有多少高质量的铁矿石储量，因此数家中国钢铁生产商正在采取行动确保自己的供应。
While China is a huge consumer of steel, it is largely bereft of quality iron-ore deposits, which is why several Chinese steelmakers are moving to secure their own supplies.
巴西大型钢铁和铁矿石生产商CSN已邀请各方竞购它旗下未上市铁矿石子公司Nacional Minerios SA的全部或部分股份。据知情人士透露，包括宝钢集团有限公司、首钢集团、江苏沙钢集团等大型中国生产商以及中国政府运营的资产2,000亿美元的中国投资有限责任公司都对收购表示了兴趣。不过该知情人士表示，竞购财团的组成还没有最后确定。
CSN, one of Brazil's leading producers of both steel and iron ore, has invited bids for all or part of Nacional Minerios SA, its unlisted iron-ore unit. Major Chinese producers including Baosteel Group Co., Shougang Group and Shagang Group, as well as China Investment Corp., a $200 billion investment pool run by the Chinese government, are interested in the unit, a person familiar with the matter said. But the composition of the consortium isn't final, this person said.
CSN聘请高盛集团(Goldman Sachs Group Inc.)作为该出售交易的财务顾问。
CSN has hired Goldman Sachs Group Inc. as its financial adviser for the sale.
上周五，中国国有钢铁制造商中国中钢集团公司表示，该公司小幅增持了澳大利亚铁矿石集团Midwest Corp.的股份至近44%，加大了对该公司的收购力度。
Last Friday, Sinosteel Corp., a state-owned Chinese steelmaker said it boosted its stake in Australian iron-ore group Midwest Corp. slightly to nearly 44%, boosting its efforts to take over Midwest.
其他规模较小的中国钢铁生产商也在努力获得更多铁矿石。中国吉林省最大的钢铁生产商通化钢铁计划收购或是投资钢厂附近的8个矿山。通化钢铁的官员表示，该公司只有约20-30%的铁矿石能够自给，其余的需要从矿业公司购买。该公司希望至2010年底前，将矿石的自给比例提高至50%以上。山西的碳钢及不锈钢生产商太原钢铁表示，该公司计划将自给比例从50%提高至80%。
Other, smaller Chinese steelmakers are also trying to line up more iron ore. Tonghua Steel, the largest steelmaker in northeast China's Jilin province, plans to buy or invest in eight mines near its mills. Company officials say Tonghua can supply only about 20% to 30% of its own iron-ore needs and has to turn to mining companies for the balance. The company hopes to increase its self-sufficiency in ore to more than 50% by the end of 2010. Taiyuan Iron & Steel, a carbon- and stainless-steel producer in northern China's Shanxi province has said it plans to raise its self-sufficiency to 80% from 50%.
在中国钢铁生产商四处寻觅资源的时候，澳大利亚矿业巨头必和必拓(BHP Billiton Ltd.)的首席执行长高瑞思(Marius Kloppers)表示，如果有中国公司收购他公司的股份，他不会感到吃惊的。必和必拓是世界最大的铁矿石生产商之一。
As Chinese steelmakers go on the prowl for resources, Marius Kloppers, chief executive of Australia-based mining giant BHP Billiton Ltd., one of the world's biggest iron-ore producers, said he wouldn't be surprised by a Chinese buy-up of his company's shares.
世界其他地区对原材料的争夺也愈演愈烈。巴西钢铁生产商Usinas Siderurgicas de Minas Gerais SA(Usiminas)表示，该公司在未来5年中将斥资7.50亿美元投资更多的矿山，将铁矿石年产量提高近4倍，至2,900万吨。Usiminas今年已斥资10美元收购了矿业公司J. Mendes及其一系列子公司。在印度，Steel Authority of India Ltd.与Tata Steel今年早些时候签署了成立煤矿合资企业的协议。
The race for raw materials is also heating up in other parts of the world. Brazilian steelmaker Usinas Siderurgicas de Minas Gerais SA, or Usiminas, said it will spend $750 million to invest in more mines over the next five years to nearly quintuple its iron-ore output to 29 million metric tons a year. Usiminas already has spent $1 billion this year to buy miner J. Mendes and its subsidiaries. In India, Steel Authority of India Ltd. and Tata Steel signed a deal earlier this year to form a coal-mining joint venture.
Robert Guy Matthews
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