China Extends Power Curbs Amid Heat Wave, Drought

Further east, in central China’s sprawling metropolis of Chongqing, home to more than 30 million people, shopping malls were told they could only open on Monday between 4 p.m. and 9 p.m. due to power rationing, state broadcaster China Central Television cited the local government as saying.

The combination of the drought and heat wave is leading to high electricity demand as residents need air conditioning to stay cool and denting supply from hydropower dams that are crucial to the region.

Rainfall feeding the Yangtze River basin was down 40% in July from a year earlier. The river is a key source of water for hydropower production and key for transportation. Levels for some parts of the river have been at their lowest points since records began, China’s Ministry of Water Resources said last week.

The power rationing is undercutting industrial production, exacerbating the damage caused to China’s economy by the government’s stringent Covid-19 control measures. China is one of several countries that face droughts, which are challenging global supply chains and risk driving up food and energy costs.  

General Interface Solution Holding Ltd., a Taiwanese maker of touch sensors and display components for electronics, said its subsidiary in Chengdu extended a suspension of production in accordance with the local government’s contingency plans.

Apple Inc.,

which had previously named the company as one of its suppliers, didn’t respond to a request for comment.