中国可能出售储备致棉价大跌
Cotton prices have hit a 10-month low as expectations that China is gearing up to release a massive stockpile weigh on the market.
棉花价格跌至10个月低点，市场预计中国准备向市场投放大量棉花储备，以平抑棉价。
Beijing is expected by the end of the year to start selling bloated cotton reserves that have kept domestic and international prices artificially high, stimulated planting of cotton internationally and starved Chinese textile mills of raw material.
预计将在年底之前开始出售膨胀的棉花储备，正是这些储备使国内和国际的棉价维持在不正常的高位，在国际范围内刺激了棉花种植，并使中国的纺织企业陷入原材料短缺的困境。
China’s state reserves bureau is sitting on a stockpile estimated by the US Department of Agriculture this summer at 10m tonnes, or 60 per cent of world stocks, which it bought at relatively high prices. So far this year, it has bought 1.08m tonnes of cotton as of the end of October.
据美国农业部(Department of Agriculture)今年夏季估计，中国国家物资储备局坐拥的棉花储备规模多达1000万吨，占全球棉花库存的60%，并且是该局以相对较高的价格收购的。今年截至10月底，中国国家物资储备局已经收购了108万吨棉花。
China National Cotton Reserves Corp announced last week that it would comply with policy released in early October by the National Development and Reform Commission, the country’s top economic planning agency, calling for “improving regulation of the cotton market” and “preserving supply of funds for purchasing”.
中国储备棉管理总公司(China National Cotton Reserves Corp)上周宣布，将执行中国最高经济规划部门——国家发改委(NDRC)今年10月初出台的政策，政策呼吁“加强棉花市场管理”以及“确保收购资金供应”。
That led to speculation the bureau could start to unload inventory as early as this month, once its purchasing programme is done.
这在市场中引发了猜测，即中国国家物资储备局最早可能在棉花收购计划完成后，于本月开始出售棉花库存。
ICE December cotton is trading at 75.90 cents a pound, the lowest since January. Chinese traders have been closing out cotton positions on the Zhengzhou Commodity Exchange on expectations a release from the reserves will send domestic futures tumbling.
伦敦洲际交易所(ICE)的12月棉花价格为每磅75.9便士，创今年1月份以来的最低水平。中国国内的交易员们则一直忙于关闭在郑州商品交易所(Zhengzhou Commodity Exchange)的棉花头寸，因预计棉花储备入市将导致国内棉花期货价格大幅下跌。
China’s state reserves bureau has sown disarray in domestic and international cotton markets by buying at above-market prices.
中国国家物资储备局以高于市价水平买入棉花的行为，已经在国内和国际棉花市场上引起了混乱。
Although the bureau in theory guarantees sufficient domestic cotton supply for China’s labour-intensive textile industry, its inventory has piled up as textile mills refused to pay high prices at its auctions, while the bureau refused lower prices for fear of incurring politically damaging losses.
虽然该局理论上保证了中国劳动力密集型的纺织行业能在国内获得充足的棉花供应，但由于纺织企业拒绝在该局的棉花拍卖会上支付高价购棉，其棉花库存规模持续攀升，而该局因担心发生上具有破坏力的亏损，所以拒绝调低价格。
Direct cotton imports by mills are limited by quotas, so many opted instead to buy imported cotton yarn.
由于纺织企业的棉花直接进口规模受到配额限制，因此很多企业转而购买进口棉纱。
In addition, the high prices have become one more factor pushing Chinese textile bosses to set up mills in lower cost markets such as southeast Asia.
除此之外，棉价高企成为了推动中国纺织业主们在东南亚等成本较低的市场设立工厂的又一个因素。
The Chinese finance ministry had to bail out the reserves bureau less than a decade ago when it bought international cotton at high prices and then sold at a loss, and is said to be impatient with the latest fiasco.
不到十年前，中国财政部被迫对中国国家物资储备局施行救助，因其以较高的价格在国际市场上购入棉花，并低价出售引发亏损。据悉中国财政部对国家物资储备局再度陷入困境感到不耐烦。