Is there a proper translation for the following Chinese term?

Question

The term is 「鑄造建材」. It appears in the following Chinese Text

...因此在當地發展勞動密集型、低技術或高污染的產業，如製衣、鑄造建材等，生產成本往往較高，導致產品價格高企，無法與廉價的進口貨競爭。...

The English translation is

Therefore, the development of labour-intensive, low-tech or high-polluting industries, such as clothing and _______________, often has high production costs, which results in high product prices so that the products cannot compete with cheap imports.

The blank represents the space where the translation of the said term should be placed.

「鑄造」means casting (of metals). 「建材」means building materials. 「鑄造建材」can either mean "metal casting and building materials" or "the making of building materials by casting metals". I am quite confused.

I think that's a question more about Chinese than about English, since you haven't explained exactly what the Chinese term means, even with many words, — Jack O'Flaherty, Sep 11 '20 at 14:59
I would guess “steelmaking” based on context, but we can’t be certain what word is right in English if you aren’t sure what the original Chinese means. — StephenS, Sep 11 '20 at 15:20
Please focus on the intended meaning if you ask these kinds of questions. Write in detail how/when it's used to make it clear to others so they can help you choose an appropriate (short) term. The less the question depends on the non-English term ("translation"), the easier it will be to answer. And the less likely it would be considered off topic. — Em., Sep 12 '20 at 03:21
Better suited questions are "word/phrase requests", where a user has a non-English word/phrase in mind, but describes its usage in order to request an appropriate English equivalent. Notice that the last two don't even mention the original, non-English word/phrase: How do you say “enchufado” in English?; An appropriate term for an overly by-the-rules person; Is there an English equivalent for the Italian saying “It's another pair of sleeves”?. — Em., Sep 12 '20 at 04:06
There are other good examples, but these are three I was able to quickly find. — Em., Sep 12 '20 at 04:07

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Sep 11 '20 at 15:36

As '鑄造建材' appears as one term, I believe it means 'the making of building materials by casting metals'. Otherwise, there should be 2 separate terms, '鑄造' and '建材'.

The sentence has become very long, and I suggest breaking it into 2. I suggest we change the 'so that' in this new line to 'thus'.

'Therefore, the development of labour-intensive, low-tech or high-polluting industries, such as clothing and the making of building materials by casting metals, often has high production costs. This results in high product prices*;* 'thus', the products cannot compete with cheap imports.'

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Sep 11 '20 at 22:52

I'm slightly "reading between the lines", since metalwork for the building industry is not usually "cast" but "forged" or "rolled" (the shape is made by squeezing the hot but solid metal, not by pouring molten metal into a mould).

The term used in English is "Structural steel" (since nearly all metal used as building materials is steel.) So you could say:

... industries, such as clothing or structural steel...

I suppose "structural metalwork" is possible if you need to be inclusive of the smaller amounts of aluminium, copper, lead and so on.

Is there a proper translation for the following Chinese term?

2 Answers2