For British Columbia’s sawmills, China has become more than just a booming market. By persuading customers across the Pacific to build houses, schools and even apartment buildings out of wood instead of cement, the Canadians are realising a long-held dream: to shake off their dependence on the fickle and protectionist US.
对加拿大不列颠哥伦比亚省（卑诗省）的锯木厂来说，中国已经不仅仅是一个兴旺的市场。通过劝说太平洋彼岸的客户们用木材建设住宅、校舍和公寓，以取代水泥，加拿大人正在实现一个宿愿：摆脱对反复无常、奉行保护主义政策的美国的依赖。
China’s importance was underlined last month when the Obama administration sought arbitration over a US claim that the BC government unfairly subsidised sales of diseased logs from provincially owned forests. The complaint came on the heels of a separate ruling that Canada must impose almost C$60m ($59.8m) in new taxes on lumber exports to the US to offset other illegal subsidies.
美方声称，卑诗省政府为产自省属森林的染病木材销售提供不公平补贴，近期奥巴马政府正打算就此提出仲裁要求。此事突显出了中国的重要性。而根据之前的一项裁决，加拿大必须对出口至美国的木材加征近6000万加元（合5980万美元）税收，以抵消其它不当补贴。
But thanks to the surge in sales to China, Pat Bell, BC’s forestry minister, says he is less worried about such disputes than he used to be. “I foresee a time in the not-so-distant future when it isn’t a case of the Americans trying to constrain the amount of lumber we’re shipping,” Mr Bell said. “It’s a case of them wanting more.”
然而，得益于对华木材出口的大幅增长，卑诗省林业厅厅长帕特•贝尔(Pat Bell)表示，他现在不像以前那么担心此类争端了。“我预感在不远的将来，美国人不会再试图限制从我们这里发运的木材数量，反而会希望得到更多木材。”
According to the BC government, the province’s lumber exports to China have soared more than tenfold since 2003, reaching an estimated 2.5bn board feet last year, equivalent to the output of 11 large sawmills. The target for this year is 4bn board feet.
据卑诗省政府统计，自2003年以来，该省对华木材出口量激增了十倍以上，去年估计达到25亿千板英尺，相当于11家大型锯木厂的产量总和。今年的出口目标是40亿千板英尺。
China’s market share has climbed from a minuscule 1.3 per cent to about 20 per cent. Shipments to the US, where home construction has been battered by the subprime mortgage crisis, have shrunk from more than two-thirds of the total to slightly over 40 per cent.
中国市场所占的份额从区区1.3%升至20%左右。对美出口（美国住宅建设受到次贷危机的严重影响）所占的比例，则从三分之二以上，下滑到略高于40%。
Mr Bell foresees that the surge in business with China will give Canada valuable leverage in Washington ahead of the expiry in 2013 of the current US-Canada softwood lumber agreement.
贝尔预计，对华业务猛增，将让加拿大在2013年美加软木协议到期前，获得宝贵的谈判筹码。
“I would want to be able to sit down with the Americans and look at my watch and say: ‘Gosh, I’m a bit busy right now. I’ve got some customers in China that I’d like to talk to. Can we do this another time?’ ” said Mr Bell.
“到时和美国人坐在一起时，我会看看手表说，‘哎呀，我现在有点忙。有几个中国客户，我想跟他们谈谈。我们改天再谈好吗？’”
The 2008 earthquake in Sichuan province was a turning point in the Canadian industry’s campaign to promote wood as a viable building material in China.
2008年的四川地震，对加拿大木材业在中国推广以木材作为可行建筑材料的活动，是一个转折点。
The disaster flattened flimsy school buildings built from concrete and rebar (steel reinforcement bar), killing thousands of students and sparking a public outcry over construction standards.
那场灾难夷平了众多用钢筋混凝土建造的脆弱的校舍，导致成千上万名学生死亡，激起了民众对建筑标准的抗议。
“In the countryside, when the situation is appropriate, we should increase the number of wooden houses,” Meng Zhaohuai, a member of the National People's Congress, wrote after the earthquake. “Wood structures are not only environmentally friendly, more comfortable and more earthquake-resilient, but are also better for recycling compared to concrete.”
人大代表孟兆怀在灾后撰文指出：“在农村，在条件允许的情况下，可适当增加木质房屋。因为木质结构不仅环保，居住舒适，抗震性好，而且木材相对于钢筋水泥消耗的资源具有可再生性。”
The three biggest Canadian exporters – Canfor, West Fraser Timber and Tolko Industries – supplied 2x4s, the basic plank size for home construction, for about 600 homes as part of the recovery effort.
作为灾后重建工作的一部分，加拿大三家最大的出口企业——加福林业(Canfor)、威斯福林产有限公司(West Fraser Timber)和托尔克实业公司(Tolko Industries)——为大约600座住宅供应2x4s板材（标准规格的住宅建筑板材）。
Don Kayne, Canfor’s head of sales and marketing, says: “That was a big step. The Chinese were extremely impressed, and we backed it up.”
加福林业销售及营销部负责人唐•凯恩(Don Kayne)表示：“这是一项重大举措。中国人深受震动，而我们提供了支持。”
With financial support from the federal and BC governments, the industry erected demonstration projects to show wood could also be used for bigger buildings such as schools and retirement centres. A joint government-industry group, in conjunction with TEDA Development, a Chinese regional development company, is erecting the first wood-frame five-storey apartment block in Tianjin, south-east of Beijing.
在联邦政府及卑诗省政府的财力支持下，加拿大木材业在中国启动示范项目，展示木材也可用于建造校舍和养老院等大型建筑。一家公私合营的集团，协同中国一家区域开发公司天津泰达集团有限公司，正在天津兴建首座木结构的五层公寓楼。
China’s lumber consumption has steadily outpaced GDP growth, hitting 423m cu m in 2009, according to official statistics. Mr Kayne estimates that, without sales to China, North American softwood lumber prices would be about $50 per 1,000 board feet lower than the current $300.
据官方统计，中国木材消耗量的增长速度已稳步超过GDP增长率，2009年达到423百万立方米。凯恩估计，假如没有销往中国，北美软木价格会比目前的每千板英尺300美元低50美元左右。
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