Beam me to Planet Gore !
Posted on 01/30/2008 3:00:55 AM PST by TigerLikesRooster
China Snow Crisis Shows Vulnerability
Wednesday January 30, 5:03 am ET
By Elaine Kurtenbach, AP Business Writer
Impact of China's Snow Crisis Spreads, Highlighting Weaknesses of Booming Economy
SHANGHAI, China (AP) -- China's financial capital saw fresh snowfall Wednesday as the impact of unusually wintry weather deepened, highlighting the vulnerabilities of the country's booming economy. Heavy snows in recent days have stalled shipments of food and fuel, complicating authorities' efforts to combat a spike in inflation.
"The snowstorm came at the worst time," Jing Ulrich, chairman for China equities for JPMorgan Securities. "In the first quarter, we're going to see pretty high inflation because of what is going on right now."
With many regions facing severe coal shortfalls, Vice Premier Zeng Peiyan repeated calls for coal suppliers and railways to ensure adequate coal supplies for utilities struggling with surging demand and damage to power grids, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.
The country was deploying army troops and extra units of police to clear roads and help provide emergency supplies to millions of stranded travelers, state-run media reported, saying authorities had declared an "all out war" on the crisis.
For much of southern and central China, ice and snow are rarities. Businesses, railroads, airports and other systems that normally keep the economy ticking at double-digit rates are ill equipped to handle what -- at no more than 30 centiments (a foot) of snow overall -- is normal winter weather elsewhere.
Dozens of factories were closed, with mining and metals companies suffering from severe power shortages.
Out in the countryside, state television in Zhejiang province, which neighbors Shanghai, showed farmers digging out collapsed greenhouses and chicken sheds that had buckled under just a few inches of sodden snow.
The snowstorms have caused economic losses of 22 billion yuan (US$3 billion; euro2 billion) since they began Jan. 10, according to the Civil Affairs Ministry.
In Shanghai, China's largest and richest city, about three dozen buildings -- mainly tin-roofed sheds, collapsed. One of the 50 people reported dead from storm-related accidents was crushed to death in such a collapse.
Otherwise the city saw only minor disruptions from intermittent snow and sleet. City workers attacked the piles of slush and snow with brooms and scrapers, keeping most roads clear.
Links between big cities remain weak, however, with trains and truck traffic in many regions paralyzed by a lack of snow removal equipment, chains or even snow tires.
Courier companies announced they were rejecting non-local deliveries. The Shanghai Post Office said demand for its EMS delivery service was up 50 percent as a result, but asked that customers call ahead to confirm services before trying to send parcels.
Some cargo shipments were also suspended due to transport snags elsewhere, said a customs offial at the Shanghai Waigaoqiao Free Trade Zone, where some operations were suspended for a half-day Monday due to snow.
With companies unable to send documents by courrier, customs clearance was delayed in some cases, said the official, who like many Chinese bureaucrats refused to give his name.
China share prices fell Wednesday, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index down 0.9 percent to 4,417.85, as investors sold airlines, railways and shipping companies on expectations the weather will sap their earnings.
Daqin Railway Co, fell 2.5 percent. Ocean shipping company COSCO sank 4.2 percent and Shanghai-based carrier China Eastern Airlines Co. dropped 2.7 percent.
The storms illustrate developing China's persisting limitations after 30-years of economic reforms that have turned it into an export juggernaut, with economic growth forecast at more than 10 percent this year.
Just a few months earlier, shortages of diesel fuel slowed transport in many regions. Now, it's coal -- used to power more than three-quarters of China's electricity -- that's in short supply.
China's railways are overburdened; its fast-expanding road system is incomplete, even in Shanghai's suburbs, and its power grid is antiquated and inefficient.
"Underinvestment remains China's key challenge," said a report issued Wednesday by investment bank Merrill Lunch.
It focused on the opportunities posed by the country's need to build up the country's "fragile infrastructure" and help close the huge gap between relatively modern coastal areas and backward, impoverished inland regions.
"Hopefully, this will be a wake up call and an incentive for the government to invest in a critical transportation system, which means railways," said Ulrich.
Ping!
The real problem will be crop failure.
Paraphrasing Marie Antoinette: Let them eat lead.....
BWHAAHHA
PING....
THATS A GOOD ONE..
Let me put it this way.
In China, the Disney film is called "Snow Black and the Seven Mutants."
Cheers!
Ummmmmmm.....
I think that for all the conversation and data pumped into the business magazines, and MSM, about how much growth and power has happened in China; one story that is missed is that they are not far from the same collapse as happened in the Soviet Union. It is not possible to strand 2 million people in a dozen seperate cities, and not have some fallout. The infrastructure of China still has a long way to go to catch the USA or Europe. They have been wasting money investing in dollars and American companies when they should be building highways and power plants. by buying American products.
good question - what will most likely happen is that we will sell them more of what they need to build a country that entered the moder era less than 20 years ago. That will be good for everyone. They have our cash and they are spending it - ask the Blackstone people.
I grew up in Pittsburgh in the 50s and know exactly what you mean. The biggest culprit were not the steel mills as one would expect. It was the coal furnaces that most homes and buildings had back then.
In this storm the peoples of the central part of China suffered the most because their infrastructure and living style doesn’t prepare for this kind of freak event.
At least the Chinese government took quick action by deploying thousands of military reserves and medical staffs to clean up the mess, which is fortunate for them to avoid another Katrina’s embarassment.
Every nations is vulnerable to these freak events. Even my country Malaysia will have big problem if a super flood or super hurricane suddenly fall down.
The best action right now is how well-prepare are the peoples’ mind and how well is the emergency plans by the officials.
The steady stream of media spin to present exaggerated version of China inevitably draws us to this kind of discussion. The disaster like this bares out the extent of exaggeration.
Well, at least China’s situation is not as bad as New Orlean during the Katrina. And at least I mean, the reserve military forces done their duty to minimise the damage.
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