Factories and households in China are without electricity resulting from an energy crunch that is the worst to hit the country in almost ten years. The shortages come resulting from coal price increases and efforts to meet official energy use targets geared to allegedly combat human-induced climate change. Consequently, power rationing has been undertaken which is very bad for Chinese who live in the north where it is cold and in the south where it is warm.

One other major factor is, during late last year, trade relations between China and Australia collapsed in which, according to CNBC, coal which is the largest source of energy for the Chinese. While China has entered agreements with Indonesia, Mongolia, and Russia to buy their coal, but the supply will take time to catch up with demand.