North China braces for more icy weather

CHINA: Northern China braced for another blast of frigid air Monday, as coal prices across the nation rose amid shortages and ongoing transport bottlenecks, the government and state media reported.

The cold front is expected to send temperatures plummeting to minus 35 degrees Celsius (-31 degrees Fahrenheit) in northern Heilongjiang province, and then grip the area for most of the week, the central weather bureau said.

The temperature in Beijing — which hit the lowest point since 1971 last week — is to drop to minus 15 Celsius by Tuesday before edging up to around zero degrees on Friday, the station said.

Frigid weather has gripped most of northern China since the start of the year, with heavy snows snarling air, road and rail traffic last week, and the diving mercury causing a spike in power use.

The government was rushing tents and other relief supplies to its northwestern Xinjiang region after heavy snow killed one person and forced the evacuation of nearly 5,500 others, state media said at the weekend.

Snowstorms which raged until Friday also “flattened” 799 houses and damaged nearly 5,000 others, the report by Xinhua news agency said.

The situation has caused several provinces and regions to ration electricity or take other power-saving moves to reduce strain on electric grids as residents turn up the heat to stay warm.

The spike in energy demand has also resulted in a 15 percent increase in coal prices in north China as compared with a month ago, the Beijing News reported.

Production in China’s major coal region of Shanxi has fallen due to the widespread closure of mines under a new safety reform plan, further pushing prices upwards, the Yangcheng Evening News said.

But due to the shortages and rising prices, end-users were seeking cheaper coal from small mines, the paper said, indicating that a black market for the fossil fuel was already developing and mines were opening illegally.

Meanwhile, coal transport prices fluctuated wildly, rising 12.4 percent at the Shanghai Shipping Trade Centre last week when shipments were hampered by snow before falling by more than 11 percent this week, the Beijing Times said.

According to Xinhua news agency, the cold snap has resulted in the most severe sea ice in north and eastern China in three decades, with ice breakers scampering to keep sea lanes free and navigable.

A large portion of the coal from north China is shipped to the south by sea.

Beijing, Monday, AF