Panic Buying Frenzy Sweeps Across China: A Rush To Hoard Energy Supplies Has Begun

Sky-high prices for natural gas and electricity have made the headlines in recent weeks as energy crises started to erupt all over the world. The most menacing of them is taking place in China, where coal stocks hit perilously low levels. Chinese officials warned that China’s energy crunch will have greater consequences for the global economy than other energy squeezes now occurring in Europe, South-Eastern Asia, and Africa. Several Chinese regions have started to conserve energy and issue rationing mandates to factories, ordering plants to halt or significantly reduce production over the next weeks. At least two-thirds of the entire country faced severe blackouts last week as China struggled with the worst power shortages in over a decade. Just this year, energy prices have more than double in China due to soaring electricity demand from factories and lower than expected output from the country’s coal mines. If China’s economy slumps any further this year, the whole global economic rebound can be derailed,