In the fight against the sharp rise in electricity consumption, China has issued strict guidelines.
Now the first companies have to cut back production.
Suppliers to Apple and Tesla are also affected
Beijing / Munich - China's electricity consumption continues to rise.
Now the government wants to turn around and reduce electricity consumption.
Beijing recently issued strict regulations on this - which are now forcing the first companies to take drastic measures.
Several Apple and Tesla suppliers have suspended production at some of their Chinese factories for several days this week to meet stringent energy consumption guidelines, according to a report by Reuters news agency.
The central government in Beijing wants to reduce electricity consumption in relation to gross domestic product by three percent this year in order to achieve its climate targets - and has issued corresponding specifications to the provinces.
In addition, there are reports of increasing power outages in important production regions, for example along the coast of eastern China.
China: Apple supplier suspends production
The Apple supplier Unimicron Technology stopped production in three of its Chinese subsidiaries between Sunday and Thursday.
According to Reuters, the Concraft Holding group, which among other things manufactures parts for iPhone headphones, wants to shut down the production lines in two plants by Thursday and instead use its inventory to meet demand.
Eson Precision Engineering - a subsidiary of the Taiwanese Apple supplier Foxconn - will shut down its production lines in China until Friday.
Several semiconductor companies from Taiwan told the agency, however, that their production is currently not affected.
But the pressure is likely to continue to rise.
The problems in China's electricity sector are expected to worsen, which could seriously disrupt the sector's supply chains before the upcoming high season for electronics.
The waning of the corona pandemic is already driving up demand for the many electronic products made in China.
China: Curbing growth in electricity consumption
The background to the new Chinese measures is that China's electricity demand continues to rise due to economic growth - by 14 percent in the first half of 2021 compared to the first half of 2019 (spring 2020 is an exceptional year due to the corona pandemic and is therefore excluded). China accounted for 90 percent of global growth in electricity consumption during this period, as the think tank Ember Climate calculated. Since 2000, the per capita electricity consumption in the People's Republic has increased sixfold. And around two thirds of all electricity is still generated from coal.
Measures are therefore necessary, especially since the global community is pushing China to do more climate protection.
According to a report by the Hong Kong
South China Morning Post,
16 out of 31 provinces are currently rationing
electricity.
In some provinces, the austerity measures even extend to private households.
In northeast China, private homes are also increasingly affected by shutdowns.
In some areas, residents are no longer allowed to use kettles or microwaves, or elevators in high-rise buildings have been disabled.
China also wants to cut production in energy-guzzling sectors such as steel and cement.
Most of the companies in these sectors are state-owned and can therefore be directly controlled by the provincial governments.
China's electricity crisis: another threat to global supply chains
The electricity shortage in China comes at a time when global supply chains are already disrupted.
A global chip shortage has been affecting many industries for months, including auto production.
There are also disruptions in shipping after the container ship Ever Given blocked the Suez Canal for days and then two Chinese ports interrupted handling due to a local corona outbreak.
Both of these led to considerable ship traffic jams.
The supply chains have not fully recovered from the resulting backlog of goods traffic.
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