https://www.wsj.com/articles/c...he-world-11633101100

China is struggling with widespread power shortfalls, dealing a blow to the recovery of the second-largest economy and risking disruption to global supply chains and heightened inflationary pressure around the world.

The power crunch, on a scale unseen in more than a decade, highlights how some of Beijing’s changing policy priorities, including its effort to limit carbon emissions, can ripple through a global economy that has been reshaped by the pandemic.

“There’ll be a cascading effect,” said Mike Beckham, Oklahoma-based co-founder and CEO of Simple Modern, which makes products such as insulated water bottles and backpacks, “As we started to comprehend the ramifications of what’s happening, we realized that this is potentially bigger than anything we’ve seen in our business careers.”

Last week, one of Mr. Beckham’s main suppliers, based in Quzhou city in eastern China, was told by the local government that it could only operate four days a week, instead of the usual six. In addition, it must adhere to a power-usage cap, which cuts the capacity of the factory by about one-third as a result.

Mr. Beckham anticipates U.S. retail prices for many products could increase by as much as 15% next spring, as appetite from retailers stays strong.

The shortages reflect a combination of factors. Coal prices have surged because of a shortage of domestic coal supplies, made worse by import cuts from Australia and Mongolia. That has prompted power stations to reduce output to avoid losses because of official caps on their selling prices.

demand for electricity has soared since the end in April 2020 of China’s pandemic-induced shutdown, as factories increased production to meet rising consumer demand in the West.

Surging demand, swings in the weather and lackluster production have driven up natural-gas prices. The surge has hit output at European factories and household energy bills. It is also fueling anxiety in Europe and the U.S. over whether dwindling supply will be sufficient to power economies through the winter.

The China power crunch also risks heaping further pressure on global supply chains by pushing up prices for raw materials and essential components.

“Global markets will feel the pinch of a shortage of supply from textiles, toys to machine parts,” wrote Ting Lu, chief China economist at Nomura Holdings, in a note to clients on Monday. He added that the resulting supply shock will likely further push up global inflation, especially in developed markets such as the U.S. The power curbs have hit parts of China’s manufacturing bases, including those that produce semiconductor-related goods. A global shortage of semiconductors this year has already hit car makers and other industries

Steve Cooke, managing director of Cre8tive Brand Ideas Ltd., a Solihull, England-based distributor of promotional merchandise such as branded bags, clothing, pens and computer accessories, said he relies on suppliers who source 80% of their products from China. Already this year, rising freight costs and supply-chain bottlenecks have pushed up his costs and lengthened delivery times for his customers. He said he expects those pressures to intensify as the power crunch squeezes production.

“We rely so much on China, it’s incredible,” he said

and that is the problem. relying on China

Over the past week, some residential areas in northeastern China experienced blackouts for hours. Traffic lights were even turned off. Factories in manufacturing regions were ordered to cut back on operating hours or even shut down for a week

Power rationing began in some Chinese provinces in late August but started to spread across the country in mid-September, when it began to hit households in northeastern China, which experienced sudden blackouts.

Newcastle thermal coal, a global benchmark for the variety burned to generate power, last week breached record levels set during the 2008 global financial crisis to top $201 a metric ton, up 141% from the start of the year. Prices of higher-grade metallurgical coal, used for steelmaking, are up 158% from the start of the year to a record $615 a metric ton in China, nearly twice its last high set in 2016.

Close to 60% of China’s power is generated by burning coal.

The domestic shortfall of coal has been exacerbated by an unofficial Chinese ban on imports of coal from Australia, previously a major supplier, since late last year over Canberra’s call for an independent global inquiry into the origins of Covid-19.

Starting Friday, industrial users in China’s manufacturing hub of Guangdong province will need to pay up to 25% more to use electricity during peak hours.

The power shortage, on top of ongoing shipping bottlenecks and strict limits on travel into China, has also prompted Mr. Beckham of Simple Modern to evaluate the viability of moving some production back to the U.S. as the business environment in China has grown increasingly unpredictable.

“The party in China always prioritizes its objectives. As an outsider, it’s often hard to understand their motives,” he said.

quote:

and that is the problem. relying on China

Sums it up right here. Until we, and the rest of the world, learn to not rely on those commies, we will continue to be at their mercy. But too many are bought by their money, which is actually our money.

This video looks at several reasons why it has been implemented and several of the province's and the CCP's assertions why it is happening.

It is a good look into the fraud that is China

Among the other fake China items are things like Evergrande, a large debt fueled real estate company that has build empty buildings.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/0...e-debt-property.html

For years China was buying up things like scrap metal, shipping them home then processing it to produce goods they sold back into western countries for less than the cost of the raw materials.

China has 18 nuclear plants under construction.
The U.S. has one.
Link

Who is working to solve their problems, and who decided to go from Energy Independence to Dependency on other countries?

This might explain why they kicked all of the cryptocurrency miners out of China. Uses a lot of energy and the government isn't getting a cut of the Bitcoin (and others).

quote:

Originally posted by kimber1911:
China has 18 nuclear plants under construction.
The U.S. has one.
Link

Who is working to solve their problems, and who decided to go from Energy Independence to Dependency on other countries?

And about as many coal fired plants set to open soon. Iirc

Unfortunate situation or part of a larger plan to control the world economy?

Lets not forget that all Chinese companies are at least 50% government owned. So saying Chinese companies have to pay the government 25% more is not the same as that statement being made here.

Remember where this all started....

I lived in China a while back. Really enjoyed it actually.

I often went out for walks, to the subway to random stops and explored. When day I was out walking and it seemed to be snowing in the middle of summer. Looking around I noticed a power plant about 1/2 mile away across the river. Thw "snow" was giant pieces of ash the size of a quarter In talking with some friends I learned that the manager of the power plant had one job, to make electricity. They would burn anything they could in that plant, coal or trash. Whatever it took to meet the production quota. Absolutely no pollution control on that factory.


As far as Nuclear, China, Russia, South Korea and maybe India are the only countries that can build a nuke plant at an afordable cost. Everyone else has lost the infrastructure to build nuke plants at a reasonable cost.


US nuclear plants. Well 3 mile island is closing soon or has recently closed.

Other US nuclear plants, the majority over 50% of them will be impacted by and forced to shut down if the ocean level rises.


The world is changing very quickly now. The US is in its twilight following in the paths of Rome, England etc..