大会专访 | 全球范围内砂石骨料会保持较高需求——访全球砂石骨料信息网召集人、欧洲砂石协会荣誉会长Jim O’Brien

2023年12月6日，以“应对变局 理性发展 服务建设 行稳致远”为主题的第八届中国国际砂石骨料大会在上海盛大开幕。这是我国砂石行业近三年首个国际性会议，也是全球砂石行业又一个千人大会。

大会期间，中国砂石协会融媒体中心专访了全球砂石骨料信息网召集人、欧洲砂石协会荣誉会长Jim O’Brien先生，听他为我们讲述砂石行业的国际合作及全球砂石骨料行业的发展趋势预测。

CAA： What is your opinion about the 2023 CAA Shanghai conference? Do you have some new understanding of Chinese aggregates industry and do you have some new gains after participating the conference?

中国砂石协会：您好，请问您对此次大会有什么看法和建议，通过此次大会是否对中国砂石行业有了新的认识？

Jim: The 2023 CAA Conference was a resounding success, perhaps even more evident because it is the first physical meeting after the four years of the pandemic. There was a great buzz in the conference as people were so glad to be able to meet face-to-face again.

吉姆先生：2023年第八届中国国际砂石骨料大会取得了显著的成功，这次线下会议也是自新冠疫情四年以来国际砂石行业首次大规模的线下会议。会议上气氛热烈，人们很高兴能够再次面对面交流。

I thought that the quality of the presentations was better than ever before, as the agenda is very comprehensive covering many items from Chinese people and the GAIN people, in particular the keynote speech delivered with such conviction, passion and zest by President Hu, as always his presentation is tremendously detailed, animated and professional. Besides, your website with the presentations and photos everything is enabling everybody around the world to look on, which is very impressive. It gives a great idea of what the industry is and what and how CAA is doing for the industry and adapting itself to the new economic circumstances. I can see now CAA is becoming a very mature association and is very well in contact with the industry. And it is also very evident from many other presentations that the industry is really advancing technically in terms of the types of machines that are produced like crushers and screens and in terms of other aspects of recycling and reducing emissions and being more efficient and really becoming a sustainable industry. The many subjects covered in the presentations witnessed the strong growth in knowledge and the greater maturity of the aggregates industry in China. His presentation was highly motivational, both nationally and internationally.

我认为本次会议的演讲质量比以往任何时候都好，会议的日程内容非常丰富，汇集了来自中国和国际砂石骨料行业的观点，特别是胡会长的主旨演讲一如既往的详实、生动和专业，充满信心、激情和热情，非常鼓舞人心。此外，本次会议提供的直播能让全世界各地的人去观看了解这次大会，真的非常了不起。通过胡会长的演讲，我们能很好的了解中国砂石行业和市场情况，以及看到中国砂石协会为行业所做的努力，包括该行业如何在新的全球经济背景下进行自我调整。我也了解到目前中国砂石协会已经成为一个非常成熟的协会，并且与行业有着非常紧密的联系。从其他许多演讲报告中也可以明显看出，中国砂石骨料行业在很多方面都取得了显著的进步，在破碎机和筛子等生产的机器方面以及在回收和减少碳排放以及提高效率方面，可以说中国砂石行业真正成为一个可持续发展的产业。会议演讲中涵盖的许多主题见证了中国骨料行业的强劲增长和日益成熟。

Going back 10 years (when I attended the first international CAA Conference in 2014), I think China was learning from Europe; now, due to the huge advances in China, I think Europe and the West can learn so much from China, from the advances in its processing technology, its innovations in recycling and re-use, and its “Industry 4.0+” level of sustainability.

回顾10年前，2014年我参加第一届CAA国际会议时，我认为那时中国正在向欧洲学习。现在，由于中国的巨大进步，我认为欧洲和西方可以向中国学习很多东西，包括其加工技术的进步、回收和再利用的创新以及“砂石骨料4.0+”的理念和可持续发展水平。

The industry here is advancing in technology in terms of physical processes of crushing and screening and a recycling and all the rest. But also there is coming a better understanding of the economics and a market factors that really determine how successful any company can be. And I think that is something that really is coming out in all of the presentations. There is now much greater understanding of what the aggregates market is and the factors that drive it and the success factors and the challenges that must be overcome so I think yes there’s a tremendous as I said maturity coming in the industry that they are now really understanding and they see the industry as integral with the economic development of China. The needs probably you have been here in China, much infrastructure and new cities and everything but there will be new markets new demands as China continues to develop well. Also is becoming very clear that many of the companies, especially machinery companies are here in China are beginning to look at export markets. And I’ve heard for example from our friends in New Zealand that they now prefer Chinese equipment so you know it's overcoming the concerns may be of quality in the past but now there is much greater reliability and performance of the equipment that is coming from China so that's good. Well done!

这里的砂石工业在破碎、筛分、回收等物理过程方面正在不断进步。人们对决定公司成功程度的经济和市场因素也有了更好的理解。这是所有的演讲和报告中体现的内容。现在，人们对骨料市场是什么、推动骨料市场发展的因素、成功因素以及必须克服的挑战有了玩滚球的十大平台的了解。正如我所说，中国的砂石行业正在走向成熟，人们现在真正理解了砂石骨料行业是中国经济发展不可或缺的一部分。虽然中国目前已经有大量的基础设施和新城市建设等，但随着中国继续良好发展，将会出现新的市场、新的需求。越来越明显的是，中国的许多公司，尤其是机械公司，都开始着眼于出口海外市场。例如，我从新西兰的朋友那里听说，他们现在更喜欢中国的设备，以前他们可能会对中国设备产品的质量有所担忧，但现在他们意识到来自中国设备的可靠性和性能要高得多，这真的很棒！

CAA: At the conference, CAA President Hu delivered a keynote speech on the current international and Chinese domestic economic situation and the sustainable development of the aggregates industry. What is your opinion of his presentation?

中国砂石协会：在本次大会中，胡会长做了《当前国际国内经济形势和砂石工业的可持续发展》的报告，您对此报告内容有什么看法？

Jim: Having attended at least 4 CAA conferences, I know that President Hu’s keynote presentation is always a “tour-de-force” of the state of the aggregates industry in China, but this time delivered with even more confidence and deeper insights on every aspect of the industry here.

吉姆先生：我参加过至少四次CAA举办的砂石骨料国际会议，知道胡会长的主旨演讲始终是中国骨料行业现状的非凡展示，但这次的演讲更加自信，对骨料行业的各个方面都有更深入的见解。

The economic situation this time is a little different from the breath-taking rate of growth in China experienced over the last two decades. In that context, even a 5% decline in national output seems strange, but rest assured that other GAIN members have experienced far steeper declines through the financial crisis of a decade ago and more recently during the pandemic.

这次的经济形势与过去二十年中国惊人的增长速度有些不同。目前中国砂石产量出现5%的下降，可能不少人会担忧，但请放心，其他GAIN成员在十年前的金融危机和最近的新冠大流行期间经历了更大幅度的下降。

Other regions have learnt the hard way that our industry is cyclical, which does regularly enforce a very close look at all production costs, thus making the industry fitter and more efficient than before – so take heart, there are also positive benefits in downturns!

国际上其他地区已经深刻认识到我们的行业是具有周期性的，因此需要定期对所有生产成本进行非常仔细的审查，从而使该行业比以前更健康、更高效。所以放心，在经济低迷时期也有积极的一面！

CAA: What is your opinion and suggestions on the international cooperation in the aggregates industry?

中国砂石协会：对于砂石行业的国际合作，您有什么看法？

Jim: I think that the level of international cooperation seen in this conference is better than ever before, and I am hugely grateful to have been invited to give an introductory salutation as well as making the GAIN keynote speech.I know also that the GAIN Members present from Europe, South Korea and New Zealand were all delighted to be given presentation slots.

吉姆先生：我认为这次会议的国际合作水平比以往任何时候都要好，我非常感谢受邀做大会开幕致辞并做主题演讲。我还知道，来自欧洲、韩国和新西兰的协会代表都很高兴能够参加此次会议并做演讲。

This time I felt a greater warmth in the relationship between CAA and GAIN, and that is something that really comes through a long-standing and mature relationship which is constructive, supportive and mutually beneficial. I think that this warmer relationship can indeed help GAIN to grow successfully in the years ahead.

这次我在CAA和GAIN之间的关系中感受到了玩滚球的十大平台的温暖，这是真正来自于长期、成熟的、建设性的、支持性的和互惠互利的关系。我认为这种温暖友好的关系确实可以帮助我们在未来几年取得成功发展。

Jim O’Brien先生在第八届中国国际砂石骨料大会上作题为《全球砂石骨料信息网2023年取得的成功&未来十年的展望》的报告

CAA: How do you view the future trend of the global aggregates industry as the world economy is facing downward pressure?

中国砂石协会：您如何看待未来砂石骨料行业的发展趋势？

Jim: Globally, aggregates will be in demand because of they being so essential to all kinds of infrastructure roads railways airports, harbours and everything as well as infrastructure for communications and alternative energy sources and things like that so the markets will change and of course as I said in my presentation that the world population is growing and also urbanization is growing and that does create more demand for aggregates. Now I think that growth will be more evident in developing countries, in Africa for example very little infrastructure. Many other countries have a big shortage of housing because there's so much population growth and also people migrated from one part of the world to the other and now there are many possible reasons for that but it is creating demand for housing and new infrastructure and a better quality of life and you know aggregates provide quality of life and for all a levels of society both the developing countries and even the developed. So I think I'm optimistic about the prospects for the aggregates industry globally even though the total global production of aggregates has declined by almost ten percent over the last five years before the pandemic from 44bnt in 2019 to just on 40bnt in 2023.

吉姆先生：我认为在全球范围内，砂石骨料都会保持较高需求，因为它们对于各种基础设施、公路、铁路、机场、港口以及一切通信和替代能源等基础设施至关重要，因此市场会发生变化，正如我的演讲中所说的，世界人口正在增长，城市化也在增长，这会创造玩滚球的十大平台的砂石需求。现在我认为发展中国家的增长将更加明显，例如在非洲，基础设施很少。许多其他国家都面临着严重的住房短缺，因为他们的人口增长很快，而且由于多种因素人们从世界的一个地方迁移到另一个地方，这些都创造了对住房和新基础设施的需求。无论对发展中国家还是发达国家而言，砂石为全社会人们提供高品质生活。因此，我认为我对全球砂石骨料行业的前景持乐观态度，尽管在过去五年里，全球砂石骨料总产量下降了近10%，从2019年的440亿吨下降到2023年的仅400亿吨。

However, as I said in my presentation, I am confident that the global aggregates production, given stable geopolitics, will rise as we move towards 2030, driven by increasing global population, ongoing urbanisation, global economic growth and universal expectations of a better quality of life. Aggregates are essential to societal development, so I am absolutely convinced that our industry has a really great future!

然而，正如我在演讲中所说，我相信，在地缘政治稳定的情况下，随着我们迈向2030年，在全球人口增长、城市化持续发展、全球经济增长以及对更高质量的普遍期望的推动下，全球砂石产量将会上升。我们的生活、社会发展离不开砂石骨料，所以我坚信我们这个行业的未来会非常美好！

来源：中国砂石协会