A major snowstorm that has blanketed much of China has caused major electricity outages, road closures, airline delays and transportation problems.
For us in the frozen food industry our concern is the current production of broccoli and cauliflower which might be subject to a freeze. Factories are sitting empty with nothing to produce because major highways are closed to many of the transportation vehicles preventing raw materials from reaching their destinations. Delayed shipments because of inability to get transportation to the major ports to load the containers.
The snowstorm has caused major outages but it is only part of the problem. The major problem is shortage of coal (energy) which has plagued China over the last several years. With the rising cost of energy Beijing has stepped in and imposed price controls which has only exacerbated the problem.
Railways in Guangzhou have been shut down because of power shortages with more than 150,000 people stranded. Beijing estimates it will be 5 days before the railways are back to normal.
All of this happening with Chinese New Year’s next week and thousand of migrant workers trying to get back to their home towns.
Technorati Tags: China, energy, food, broccoli, cauliflower
