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Iron ore fell for the eighth day in a row yesterday, tumbling to a fresh two-year low.
铁矿石价格昨日连续第8天下挫，跌至2年以来的新低。
Benchmark Australian ore, with a 62 per cent iron content, dropped 70 cents to $88.20 a tonne, according to The Steel Index, bringing the losses since the middle of the month to 5.6 per cent.
根据The Steel Index提供的数据，澳大利亚基准铁矿石（含铁量为62%）的价格下跌70美分，至每吨88.2美元，自本月中旬以来的累计跌幅达到5.6%。
The price of the steelmaking ingredient has sunk 35 per cent this year on concerns about increasing global supplies and slower demand in China, which consumes about two-thirds of world seaborne iron ore.
今年以来，这种炼钢原料的价格已经下降了35%，因为市场担忧国际供应量上升而中国的需求在减速。中国的铁矿石消费量约为世界海运铁矿石的三分之二。
The commodity is crucial to the profitability of several of the world’s largest mining companies, including BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto, Anglo American and Vale.
铁矿石对世界上最大的几个矿业公司的盈利能力至关重要，包括必和必拓(BHP Billiton)、力拓(Rio Tinto)、英美资源公司(Anglo American)和淡水河谷(Vale)。
They are spending billions of dollars increasing output to meet anticipated future demand, and capture market share, while pushing the global market into surplus.
这些公司正花费数十亿美元提高产出以满足预期的未来需求，并抢占市场份额，此举使全球市场进入供过于求的状态。
While these companies’ low production costs mean they can endure depressed prices in the medium term, it is not the same for smaller miners, from Australia to west Africa and China, which just three years ago were smiling as prices rose towards $200 a tonne.
这些公司的生产成本较低，这意味着它们可以在中期承受低迷的价格，但对从澳大利亚到西非、中国等地规模较小的矿企来说就不是这样了。3年前，铁矿石价格逼近每吨200美元，让这些较小的矿企满心欢喜。
Marginal producers now have to make “pretty aggressive decisions” about curtailing output, according to Colin Hamilton, head of commodities research at Macquarie.
麦格理(Macquarie)大宗商品研究主管科林•汉密尔顿(Colin Hamilton)表示，处于边缘的生产者现在必须就缩减产出做出“相当激进的决策”。
When the scale of the supply glut became clear this year, the iron ore price briefly dropped below $90 a tonne in June. Higher-cost miners received a brief respite when the price recovered to $98 a tonne a month later as Chinese steel mills built up inventories.
今年供应过剩的规模变得明朗后，铁矿石的价格在6月一度跌破每吨90美元。1个月后，由于中国的炼钢厂开始积累库存，铁矿石价格回复至每吨98美元，让生产成本较高的矿企获得了短暂的喘息时间。
But this restocking has slowed, analysts say, causing prices to slide once more, to levels last seen in September 2012.
但分析师们表示，中国补充库存的速度放缓了，这使价格又一次下滑，跌至2012年9月以来的最低水平。
“The willingness from Chinese steel mills to take on more stock is weakening, and marginal buyers are lacking in the market,” said Mr Hamilton.
“中国炼钢厂积累更多库存的意愿在变弱，而市场上又缺乏边缘买家，”汉密尔顿说。
“Given that mill inventories are not low, the price could still fall further.”
“考虑到炼钢厂的库存量并不低，价格可能进一步下降。”
If the iron ore price slips another $2 a tonne, it will be the lowest since October 2009.
如果每吨铁矿石的价格再下滑2美元，就会跌至2009年10月以来的最低水平。
Chinese steel production has expanded by nearly 3 per cent this year, but demand growth during the first half of the year was only 0.4 per cent, according to the China Iron and Steel Association. One reason for this slowdown is the weakness in the country’s property sector.
根据中国钢铁工业协会(China Iron and Steel Association)的数据，今年中国的钢产量上升了近3%，但上半年的需求仅增长0.4%。需求放缓的一个原因是中国房地产业的低迷。
