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第11课 易货贸易仍在使用 The Comeback of International Barter

国际易货贸易的回潮

一、（Excerpts）（摘录） It is a primitive, inefficient and expensive way of doing business—but the massive debts of developing and the world’s oversupply of goods make it inescapable. 它是一种原始、低效且昂贵的贸易方式，但发展中国家的巨额债务和全球过剩的供给，使它不可避免地存在着。

In 1983 the Saudi Arabian government decided to purchase ten Boeing 747-300s powered by 40 Rolls-Royce jet engines. But faced with declining revenues due to a worldwide surplus of oil, it was reluctant to pay $1 billion in cash. Instead, it offered crude oil. Neither the American aircraft manufacturer nor the British engine-maker wanted all that oil. But opportunities for such a big sale are rare. So the companies have arranged for an international financial institution to sell the Saudi crude on world markets. Boeing and Rolls-Royce will be paid in cash from the proceeds, and Saudi Arabia will get its aircraft without dipping into its currency reserves.

1983 年，沙特阿拉伯政府决定购买 10 架波音 747-300 飞机，并且由 40 架罗尔斯——罗伊斯公司的引擎提供动力。但是面对全球石油过剩造成的收入下降，沙特政府不愿意支付 10 亿美元的现金。取而代之，沙特提出要用原油来支付。美国飞机制造商和英国引擎制造商都不想收下全部的原油。然而，像这样大笔买卖的机会是少有的。于是他们安排了一家国际金融机构在世界市场上销售沙特的原油。波音和罗尔斯公司将从售油收人中获取现金，而沙特也将得到飞机而不至动用自己的货币储备。

To secure sales of its F-5 jet fighter to the Swiss government, the Northrop Corporation of the United States agreed to help the Swiss expand export markets for $200 million worth of goods. Northrop located a purchaser for Swiss elevators in Egypt, and steered the Swiss to a cement plant construction project in Indonesia. Over five years some 200 Swiss companies benefited from Northrop’s assistance. 为了把自己的F-5喷气式战斗机卖给瑞士政府，美国诺思罗普公司同意帮助瑞士扩展价值2亿美元的出口市场。他们在埃及为瑞士电梯找到了一个买主，又在印度尼西亚指导瑞士从事一个水泥厂的建设。5年间，大约有200家瑞士公司受益于诺思罗普公司的援助。

In a hot contest the United States’ General Electric Trading Co. won a contract for a $ 150 million turbine project in Romania—largely because in agreed to receive and market Romanian products of equivalent value. General Electric was able to use some Romanian steel products, and developed marketing programs to sell additional materials to the Middle and Far East.

在一场激烈的竞争中，美国通用电器贸易公司赢得了罗马尼亚的一项价值1亿5千万美元的涡轮机工程合同——主要因为通用同意接受并销售罗马尼亚等价值的产品。通用电器公司可以使用一些罗马尼亚的钢铁制品，并且开发一些营销计划把多余的材料销往中东和远东。

Economists at the U.S. Department of Commerce estimate that up to 20 per cent of

trade between nations is now subject to some form of countertrade—an outgrowth of the ancient practice of barter.

美国商业部的经济学家估计，目前高达20％的国家间贸易要遭遇某种形式的对等贸易——古代以货易货的一种发展。

Barter endured for thousands of years as the primary means of trade. Colonial powers forced bilateral barter upon their client states, making the colonies take expensive manufactured goods in return for bargain-price raw materials, and prohibiting them from trading with other nations. International trade was supposed to be freed from bartering’s constraints in July 1944, when diplomats and economists attending the United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference at Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, hammered out agreements that led to the creation of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and regulation of the worldwide currency exchange system.

Kantor周一对欧洲政府采购案迅速做出回应，这显示了信任政府的耐心可能会小于前任政府。

Commerce among nations a modern era; the constrained trading between imperial powers and their colonies began to break down.World markets opened to all countries, and multilateral trade flourished.Generally a country could sell its goods in the best market it could find, and buy what is needed from the least expensive supplier.Moreover, since currencies were convertible, most transactions could be completed with cash.Barter was as antiquated as the horse-soldier.Or so it seemed. 从此，国家间贸易进入了现代时期；帝国主义列强和其殖民地国家间的强制性贸易开始瓦解崩溃。世界市场向所有国家开放，多边贸易繁荣兴旺起来。通常一个国家可以把自己的商品出售给能够找到的最好的市场，并且从最便宜的供应商处购进自己需要的东西。此外，因为货币可以兑换，大多数的交易可以用现金完成。易货贸易变得像骑兵一样古老。或许，好象如此。

During the past few years, however, the international monetary system has begun to strain under a variety of economic changes.One important cause is the enormous burden of debt carried by Third World countries, today estimated at $ 800 billion.“The plain fact is that many countries are broken,” say David Yoffie, assistant professor at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Business Administration.

然而，在过去的几年里，国际货币制度开始在各种经济变革中承受巨大压力。一个重要原因是第三世界国家承担的巨额债务，据估计目前有8千亿美元。哈佛大学工商管理研究生院的副教授大卫·约非说：“显而易见，许多国家都要破产了。” Nations with serious debt problems, such as Mexico, Brazil and Argentina, have been compelled to devote almost all their export earnings to debt service, leaving themselves with virtually no surplus to pay for imports.With barter, however, debtor nations can continue to import goods while, in effect, concealing export earnings from creditors. 像墨西哥、巴西、阿根廷这样有严重负债问题的国家都已被迫把自己几乎所有的出口收入用来支付欠款利息，实际上没有给自己留下剩余资金支付进口物品。然而，通过易货贸易，负债国可以继续进口货物，同时把自己的出口所得隐藏起来，不让债权国知道。

But countertrade is not the exclusive province of debtor nations.Says Yoffie, “Even

countries with strong foreign exchange positions, such as Australia, Canada and Indonesia, are insisting on countertrade in certain areas.Linking imports and exports is a way to exert power over multinational corporations.Countries that lack expertise in international marketing try to use countertrade as leverage to tap the networks of global firms.”

但是，对等贸易并不是债务国所独有的。约非说：“即使像澳大利亚、加拿大和印度尼西亚这样外汇地位强健的国家也坚持在某些领域从事对等贸易。把进口和出口联系起来是一种对跨国公司施加权力的途径。缺乏国际营销专业知识的国家试图用对等贸易作为杠杆来推动跨国公司的内部市场网络。”

Nations also use countertrade as a camouflaged means of subsidizing exports.For instance, if a Middle Eastern country wanted to increase its oil exports, says Yoffie, it could simply lower its price.Such a move would, however, weaken the cartel.But if a country sells its oil at the OPEC list price, and in an interconnected deal quietly arranges to pay a premium for imported goods, both parties in the transaction benefit—at the expense, of course, of other oil producers.Up to a quarter of all OPEC oil transactions today have some kind of countertrade provisions attached. 有些国家还把对等贸易当成补充出口的一种伪装手段。约非说，例如，如果一个中东国家想增加其石油出口，它可以简单地降低油价。然而，这一举动会削弱卡特尔联合企业。但是如果一个国家按欧佩克的挂牌价销售石油，同时在一笔相关交易中，悄悄安排加价购买进口产品，结果交易双方都会从中获益－—当然，是以牺牲其他石油出产国的利益为代价。现在欧佩克的石油交易中有四分之一都带有某种对等贸易的条款。

Barter in its traditional form—the direct exchange of goods of equivalent value—is relatively rare.Its modern variants:

传统形式的易货贸易—同等价值商品的直接交换，相对罕见。其现代变体有： Counter purchase usually involves a supplier selling goods or services and in return ordering unrelated products, which essentially offsets the buyer’s costs.For example, when McDonnell Douglas sold civilian aircraft to Yugoslavia in the 1960s, it agreed to purchase goods from that country—including hams that were then served in the company’s cafeteria—and to market Yugoslavizn products in the United States.The firm also encouraged its employees to vacation it Yugoslavia; the tourist dollars spent served to offset the company’s countertrade obligations.

回购通常指供应商销售货物或服务的同时订购不相关产品作为回报，这样基本上抵消了买方的成本。比如，60年代，麦道公司出售民用飞机给南斯拉夫的时候，同意从南购买货物—包括当时供应给自家餐厅的火腿。同时，还同意在美国销售南斯拉夫产品。麦道还鼓励其员工到南度假；旅游者花费的美元用来抵消该公司对等贸易的债务。

Compensation Agreements are often undertaken to win contracts for the construction of manufacturing plants.When Levi Strauss sold a blue jeans factory to Hungary, the American company agreed to market approximately 500,000 jeans per year in East Germany, Poland and Czechoslovakia.

补偿贸易协定是指为了赢得建设工厂的合同所签订的协议。美国利瓦伊一斯特劳斯公司把一个牛仔裤厂卖给匈牙利时，他同意每年在东德、波兰和捷克斯洛伐克销售大约该厂的50万条牛仔裤。