中国等新兴市场需求不振 德国经济告急

FRANKFURT — China is cutting back on mining machinery as its economy slips. The United Arab Emirates and other Middle Eastern countries are no longer awash in oil money, putting luxury car brands at risk. Russia, still facing Western sanctions, cannot buy as much high-tech energy equipment.

法兰克福——中国在经济不景气之际，削减了购置采矿机械的费用。阿拉伯联合酋长国等中东国家的石油收入不再数不胜数，令豪车品牌前景堪忧。俄罗斯仍旧面临西方的制裁，无法购买多少高科技能源设备。

The downshift in the emerging markets is leaving Germany vulnerable — and, by extension, Europe.

新兴市场增长放缓让德国乃至整个欧洲都变得很脆弱。

As many businesses in the region struggled just to tread water in recent years, German companies prospered by selling the goods and technology that emerging countries needed to become more modern economies. As they did, Germany’s strength served as a counterweight to the economic malaise, financial turmoil and Greek debt drama that dragged down many European countries.

近年间，欧洲的很多企业都在挣扎求存，德国企业却通过出售新兴国家发展成为更现代化的经济体所必须的产品和技术而兴旺发达。由于德企的兴旺发达，德国经济在很多欧洲国家都被经济衰退、金融风暴和希腊债务危机拖住脚步之际稳住了局势。

Now, Germany, which accounts for the largest share of the European economy, is looking like the laggard. Compared with the economies of other countries in the region, Germany’s has been more deeply tethered to emerging markets. And the political climate is only adding to the uncertainty, as Germany deals with a wave of migrants and a potential exit of Britain from the European Union.

如今，德国作为欧洲最大的经济体，似乎正在成为拖后腿的那一方。与该地区的其他国家相比，德国经济和新兴市场的联系最为紧密。此外，德国正在应对移民潮和英国退出欧盟的可能性，这种政治氛围只会让不确定性有增无减。

Against that backdrop, the country’s export engine is sputtering, while business confidence is eroding.

在上述背景下，德国的商业信心受到了损害，其出口引擎在重压下开始发出喘息之声。

During the good times, the German manufacturer Eickhoff Bergbautechnik sold 20 machines a year as China dug ever more coal mines to feed its energy-hungry factories. The machines, shearer loaders that use giant spinning claws to scrape coal or potash from underground seams, sell for up to 4 million euros, or about $4.6 million apiece.

经济景气的时候，中国为了满足那些能源紧缺的工厂的需求，所开采的煤矿越来越多，德国制造商艾柯夫采矿技术有限公司(Eickhoff Bergbautechnik)一年能卖出20套机械设备。每套设备——即采煤机，可以利用旋转的巨爪把煤或者钾盐从地下矿层中开采出来——售价高达400万欧元，约合460万美元。

Last year, the company sold just eight. With profit dropping, Eickhoff laid off about 10 percent of its local work force of 300.

去年，该公司只卖出了8套设备。由于利润下滑，艾柯夫裁掉了300名本地雇员中的10%。

“We are going from an unbelievable boom to a down phase,” said Karl-Heinz Rieser, the managing director of Eickhoff.

“我们正从令人难以置信的繁荣期过渡到萧条期，”艾柯夫的董事总经理卡尔-海因茨·里泽(Karl-Heinz Rieser)说。