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Nationwide power curbs, caused by many factors including a steep jump in coal prices and surging demand, have led to side effects at Chinese factories of all kinds, with some cutting output or halting production entirely. Industry insiders predict the situation could worsen as the winter season draws near.
As production halts caused by power curbs challenge factory production, experts believe that Chinese authorities will launch new measures - including a crackdown on high coal prices - to ensure a steady electricity supply.
A textile factory based in East China's Jiangsu Province received a notice from local authorities about power cuts on September 21. It won't have power again until October 7 or even later.
"The power reductions surely had an impact on us. Production has been halted, orders are suspended, and all our 500 workers are off on a month-long holiday," a manager of the factory surnamed Wu told the Global Times on Sunday.
Apart from reaching out to clients in China and overseas to reschedule fuel deliveries, there is very little else that can be done, Wu said.
But Wu said that there are over 100 companies in Dafeng district, Yantian city, Jiangsu Province, facing the similar predicament.
One likely reason causing the electricity shortage is that China was the first to recover from the pandemic, and export orders then flooded in, Lin Boqiang, director of the China Center for Energy Economics Research at Xiamen University, told the Global Times.
As a result of the economic rebound, total electricity use in the first half of the year rose more than 16 percent year-on-year, setting a new high for many years.
Post time: Sep-28-2021