Does the scaffolding industry affected by China's power rationing?

Affected by the power rationting policy, Chinese scaffolding industry is also affected.

Limited power supply makes most factories only work 3 days a week. Even in some cities in southern China, factories can only work 1 day a week. The dual control policy has affected many Chinese export industries.

Power cuts have been introduced because of a surge in electricity consumption, tightening coal supplies, as well as pressure on local governments to meet energy consumption targets before the year-end.

The power cuts come after the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), China’s top economic planner, September 16 released a ‘dual-control plan’ targeting to enhance control on both energy intensive activities and total energy consumption.

The so-called 'dual control plan' puts emphasis on 'resolutely controlling high energy consumption and high emission projects', and ordered regional governments to set targets to cap and ration electricity consumption to control emissions.

In recent weeks, more than 20 provinces have introduced power rationing to cope with soaring coal prices and rises in electricity demand. Factories were told to shut down and households were warned that electricity supply could be unstable.

The dual control policy has been in place for many years but only got the spotlight in the current crisis.

China proposed quantitative targets for both total energy consumption and energy intensity for the 13th five-year plan period 2016-20, which limited annual energy consumption to 5 billion mt of standard coal equivalent in 2020, and reduced energy intensity by 15% in 2020 from the 2015 level.

In 2020, the consumption cap was met, but China's energy intensity was only reduced by 13.2% in the 2016-20 period, falling behind the target.

In March, NDRC released the outline of its 14th five-year plan, which proposed to further reduce China's energy intensity by 13.5% by the end of 2025. The cap for total energy consumption has not been specified yet, and is expected in the detailed five-year plan for the energy sector to be launched soon.

On Aug. 17, NDRC issued a notice that gave 'red alerts' to 10 provinces that failed to meet either the energy consumption or intensity target. The provinces - Guangdong, Jiangsu, Yunnan, Fujian, Shaanxi, Guangxi, Ningxia, Qinghai, Xinjiang and Hubei - were required to take corrective actions, which resulted in them cutting power supplies, especially to energy-intensive industries.

NDRC issued Sept. 16 measures titled 'The improvement plan of China's dual control system on energy consumption and energy intensity' that added to the pressure.

Under the September update, the approval and supervision of projects with an annual energy consumption above 50,000 mt of standard coal equivalent was tightened, and financial support to unqualified energy-intensive projects was halted.

The September plan also required authorities to tighten supervision and financing of "two high" projects - involving both high energy consumption and high emissions - that usually refer to coal-fired power projects and heavy industries like petrochemicals, chemicals, steel, non-ferrous metals and building materials that collectively account for more than 70% of China's CO2 emissions.

The materials and making of scaffolding products both belong to the energy-intensive industries, whether it is ferrous metal (carbon steel) or non-ferrous metal (Aluminum).

The recent power cuts lengthened the production of scaffolding components, causing the delivery postponed directly.

And less output per unit of time inevitably leads to higher costs, the cost increase inevitably leads to the price increase.

EK - an experienced manufacturer of scaffolding components, owns its plants. Mainly produce tube-fittings, system scaffolds (ringlock, cuplock, kwikstage, haki, frame), props, ladders, beams, etc.

Looking forward to your enquiries.