Drought & Power Shortage in Sichuan to Delay Trade Orders in China
All Sichuan industrial enterprises that consume electricity will stop production from August 20 to 25, 2022, to leave the scarce electricity to residents.
That’s what the government in Sichuan, China’s western manufacturing hub, said in an emergency notice.
Sichuan is one of China’s major international trade centers, and its main export products include photovoltaic cells, integrated circuits, household appliances, consumer electronics, automobiles and accessories, and agricultural products.
For instance, the polysilicon produced in Sichuan for the photovoltaic industry accounts for 10% of the world market.
Another example is that most of China’s caviar exports come from Sichuan, and China’s caviar accounts for 70% of the world’s market share.
Sichuan’s power shortage is due to its high temperature and drought since this July. Sichuan is the region with the most abundant hydropower resources in China and is also heavily dependent on hydropower. The drought has led to a sharp drop in power generation from hydropower plants.
In fact, since August, Sichuan has imposed power use curbs for most enterprises except for those in key infrastructures.
This has impacted the fulfillment of many trade orders in China.
Last week, the Shanghai Municipal Government, on behalf of the auto manufacturing companies within its jurisdiction, requested the Sichuan Provincial Government to allow the auto parts companies in Sichuan to continue production and supply as much as possible.
According to the forecast of the meteorological department, the drought in Sichuan can be initially eased by the end of August. Power shortages and manufacturing shutdowns are likely to continue into September.
In addition, Sichuan is also the habitat of pandas. We also hope that pandas can survive this unprecedentedly prolonged heat and drought.
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Photo by Darmau Lee on Unsplash