Home -> Law Blog Directory -> International Law Blogs -> China Law Blog

International Law

: China Law Blog

China's Weather Report: Because It Really Matters

By Dan Harris and Steve Dickinson

Last winter, I went to Alaska at the last minute. Upon landing, I looked out my plane window and thought, "gee, snow. Guess I should have brought my coat." This same thing happened to me once when I went to Chicago. Weather bores the hell out of me, particularly weather in a place where I am not. Today, I realized China's weather problems are more than local. China's snowy weather is already impacting China business and prices and the longer it continues, the greater the impact. When China gets a cold, the whole world sneezes. Managing the Dragon has two excellent posts up explaining the impact of China's snow. The first is entitled, "Extreme Weather Affecting Operations in China," and it describes how China's weather is slowing factory production:

Highway, rail and air service are being impacted, with shipments of coal, fuel and other raw materials to power plants and manufacturing plants being seriously delayed. Our information is consistent with that reported in major media. We believe that factories in as many as 17 provinces are being affected, with those in Hubei, Hunan and Jiangsu being amongst the hardest hit. Many are facing power shortages and significant delays in receiving raw materials. Due to priorities being placed on getting much needed coal to power plants, some are being told by logistics providers that shipments of finished products to customers may be delayed for as much as two weeks. This means that both production and sales of many factories in China will be negatively affected in both January and February.

Then, in a newer post, entitled, "China Storm Update," Managing the Dragon warns of a two to four week interruptions in Chinese product supply. MSNBC's World Blog has a post that does a nice job of explaining in very simple terms how the snow is driving up prices in China. The post is entitled, "Steep Prices Chill China's Markets" and it describes how fruit and vegetable prices in Beijing have risen some 50 percent due to the snow. Economics says this rise in food prices could lead to a rise in wages, which in turn will lead to a rise in product prices. Snow is temporary, of course, but the longer it continues to disrupt, the greater its permanent impact. All Roads Lead to China has a post, entitled, "China?s Power Crisis. What is Happening. What the Impact Is/ Could be. And What You Should Do," that lives up to its title. Rich Brubaker of All Roads is a logistics guy and this post very nicely sets out how the weather will impact China production and logistics. Co-blogger Steve Dickinson is fervently hoping to leave Shanghai on Tuesday to ride out the storm in sunny Cambodia.

Full post as published by China Law Blog on February 04, 2008 (boomark / email).