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https://asia.nikkei.com/Economy/Beijing-and-Shanghai-face-blackouts-in-deepening-power-crunch?utm_campaign=GL_indo_pacific&utm_medium=email&utm_source=NA_newsletter&utm_content=article_link&del_type=11&pub_date=20210929053000&seq_num=29&si=44594 Beijing and Shanghai face blackouts in deepening power crunch Rolling outages come as factories suspend work and water supply unstable Power lines in Beijing: Planned power outages are believed to affect 10,000 residents in the capital. © Reuters SHUNSUKE TABETA, Nikkei staff writerSeptember 29, 2021 00:44 JST BEIJING -- China has begun rolling blackouts in Beijing and Shanghai, metropolises home to 48 million people, as the country struggles with crippling power shortages that have hit key factories in a further threat to the economy. The Beijing office of State Grid Corp. of China said it will begin scheduled power outages in select areas through Sunday. Electricity will mainly be cut for a few daytime hours at a time. The rolling blackouts will affect at least four districts in the capital. They include Xicheng and Dongcheng, which house government agencies and residences of top officials; Chaoyang, where many foreigners live; and Haidan, where several tech companies are located. "The main purpose is to carry out regular equipment maintenance and upgrades to the power grid," State Grid said in a social media post Tuesday. "At present, the power grid in the capital has sufficient, stable and orderly supply." The exact number of homes and business affected has not been disclosed. Some media outlets have reported that the blackouts cut through about 60 grid sections, which would translate to more than 10,000 people being without power. Beijing has a population of 22 million people. The scheduled blackouts mainly target private residences, largely sparing factories. "I've received no information about factories in Beijing suspending operations due to power rationing," said a source from a Japanese manufacturer operating in China. Shanghai, home to 26 million people, will conduct rolling blackouts through Sunday as well. The national power shortage has caused suppliers of Apple and Tesla to suspend operations in Jiangsu Province, adjacent to Shanghai. Factories run by Japanese manufacturers in Guangdong Province have been affected. Taking the brunt of the power shortage is China's Rust Belt region in the northeast. In Shenyang, a city in Liaoning Province, traffic signals have ceased to work, leading to congestions, according to media reports. In Jilin Province, Jilin City's water supply has been unstable and officials have called on citizens to stock up on water. The biggest reason for the electricity shortfall is the waning operations at coal plants. The price of coal has risen by more than 30% from a year earlier, forcing coal-fired plants to reduce power output. President Xi Jinping has pledged to have carbon dioxide emissions peak out by 2030 and attain carbon neutrality by 2060. Local government efforts to attain those goals have factored heavily in the power shortages.

https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/health/expanded-testing-health-risk-warnings-and-alerts-among-new-measures-to-control SINGAPORE - It has been the best of times and the worst of times for local car dealers as demand accelerates, but a lack of vehicles worldwide has meant sales are stuck in the slow lane. The prolonged shortage of computer chips has forced carmakers to slash production, which has in turn hit sales and left frustrated motorists wondering when their shiny new ride will appear. Mr Fed Wu, who runs Allmotoring, a parallel importer and used-car trader, is bracing himself for further delays in the delivery of more than 10 new cars he ordered in March from Toyota and Mercedes-Benz. "I had placed the orders for Toyota cars in March and the shipment was scheduled to arrive last month. But I was told in July that it would be delayed again until October," said Mr Wu. "Anyone who buys a new Toyota now would have to wait till the first quarter of next year for his car to be delivered." Last month, Toyota, the world's largest automaker by sales volume, said it would cut production worldwide by 40 per cent this month because of the global chip crunch. The Japanese brand has long been the top-selling carmaker in Singapore. German luxury carmaker Daimler also expects sales to take a hit this year. A Daimler South-east Asia spokesman told The Straits Times that the worldwide shortage of some semiconductor components has caused delays in vehicle delivery for customers in various segments and customers in Singapore are not spared. "This shortage will impact sales in 2021," she said. "As visibility is limited at present and the situation remains volatile, we cannot assume when the shortage will be finally fixed, but we intend to catch up with the temporary reductions as soon as possible, as we see a constantly high customer demand for our Mercedes-Benz products in Singapore." Mr Neo Nam Heng, chairman of diversified motor group Prime, said his car supplier in Europe told him to expect delivery delays of about three months. Mr Neo, who is also the honorary adviser to the Automobile Importer & Exporter Association, said many of his members who are parallel importers of Mercedes-Benz have been holding some stock, which could "ease the situation". But as the market is "very competitive", parallel importers have not marked up the car prices. However, if the delay is prolonged, prices could rise, said Mr Neo. He added that before the Covid-19 pandemic struck, about 30,000 cars, or 40 per cent of total annual imports, were from parallel importers. Mr Wu, who is also the publicity officer of the Singapore Vehicle Traders Association, said the shortage of new cars has also led to the rise in demand for used and rental vehicles. Used car prices have gone up by about 15 per cent since March, because fewer used vehicles were being traded in as owners could not get new models, said Mr Wu. He added that car dealers have been trying to please angry customers by throwing in more freebies. Human resource officer Gerald Lim was lent a car to drive until his new Toyota Raize is delivered. Mr Lim, 30, said: "I was supposed to get my car in May but I am still waiting for further news from the dealer. In the meantime, the car dealer had lent me a used Toyota Axio to drive, for free. So I have no complaints." Mr Simon Ng, 61, who paid a deposit of around $10,000 for a new Toyota Yaris Cross in July, was expecting to get his car this month, but it now looks like there will be a further delay. "Delays in shipping are common. But I don't want to pay more for a certificate of entitlement (COE) later and COE prices have been rising," noted Mr Ng, a projects manager in the building industry, who added that he might cancel his purchase. The impact of the chip shortage has gone beyond cars. Prices of some laptops and game consoles that require semiconductor chips have gone up - if you can actually get hold of them. Mr Jeffrey Lee, who runs TechDeals, which sells computer parts at Sim Lim Square, said he has more than 50 customers on his wait list for a popular mid-range graphic card even though there is "no clarity from the supplier" on when the new stock will arrive. Motherboard prices have also gone up by about 10 per cent, added Mr Lee. Some electronics retailers at Sim Lim Square told The Sunday Times that they have more than 100 customers on wait-lists for the Sony PlayStation 5 (PS5) game console. "Some of these customers placed their names on the wait list before the PS5 was launched last November. Until now, they still can't get it," said Mr Leon Yip, who works at V3 Audio Video. But it is not impossible to get as some scalpers have been reselling the PS5, at about $1,200 or over $400 more than the recommended retail price, on Carousell.

Over in Nusajaya and filled up with petrol at the last service station before Tuas. Bought durian at the stall there before and just got a craving. So bought 1.5kg. Had it opened there and ate 3 pieces from 1 segment straight away, but asked that the remaining pieces be wrapped up to take home. Got home opened the package and found just another 3 pieces from 1 segment. Should have checked that I'd been given the whole amount not just part. Fuming

Went to a few Esso petrol stations over the past week, could not buy any coupons. They had only got overnight $4 coupons left. Has anyone else encountered a shortage, or share where you last bought $0.50 and $1 coupons?

A pity, because I think this is a very good restaurant. http://www.straitstimes.com/news/singapore/more-singapore-stories/story/lei-garden-closes-orchard-shopping-centre-branch-2014070 With so many restaurants closing down, or on the brink of closing down, due to manpower shortage issues, and such news being repeatedly published on MSM, I think the message is clear. It reminds me of an oatmeal comic. Food can really get people to react like nothing else can:

http://www.todayonline.com/World/EDC121001...-may-take-a-hit This is the company that produces the stuff that absorbs the wetness, and they aren't expecting the factory to be back on line soon. So could be a bit problematic/stinky... Told the wife better stock up. Going to use them sometime or another.

Finally, MBT admit that 225 HDB car parks face shortage of lots. http://motoring.asiaone.com/Motoring/News/...428-212852.html "These oversubscribed carparks affect about 2 per cent of season parking ticket (SPT) buyers, Mr Mah clarified." Anyone knows how many HDB car parks in Singapore? If 2000+ HDB car parks, then it is 10%.

Based on today's news, they are working to ease the shortage. Before they use the excuse of increasing season parking fees, I would like to reprint the following article from 2002 when they increased the fees by 11-20%, and also to remind HDB that there are some motorists with good memories with regards to such increases HDB carpark operations are profitable Business Times May 28, 2002 SINGAPORE BY Lee Han Shih CONTRARY to popular belief, the Housing and Development Board does not lose money on its carparks. In fact, it is making good profits out of them. HDB, which houses 85 per cent of Singaporeans, is also the nation's biggest carpark operator. As a rough guide, it builds three parking lots for every four flats in its estates. It now manages more than 640,000 car, motorcycle and lorry lots. Operationally, these are highly profitable. In financial year 2000-01, HDB made $87.1 million from its carparks - half of that 'contributed' by motorists' parking fines. The year after, profit eased to $80 million. Yet, despite these figures, HDB carparks are officially losing money. Early this month, National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan told Parliament the carparks lost $99 million in financial year 2000-01 and $105 million in FY2001-02. To reduce these losses, HDB has no option but to raise parking charges by 11 to 20 per cent come September, the minister told fellow MPs. Mr Mah bears the brunt of a rising storm of protest over the rate hike. But some have rallied around him. Among them was Wee Kiat Sia, head of HDB's carpark section. In a letter to the Straits Times, Mr Wee said: 'The HDB residential carparks are heavily subsidised as current charges are way below the cost of providing these carparks.' So are HDB carparks a money spinner or money loser? It depends on how you tally up the cost. Costs for projects such as carparks, MRT lines and power stations come on two levels: developmental (money spent to build them and to service loans) and operational (money spent running them). Operationally, HDB carparks are profitable. But when interest payments are included, they plunge into the red. HDB borrowed perhaps $4 billion from the government to buy state land and to build carparks. Servicing these loans is the single biggest expenditure item for HDB carparks - and the reason they are in the red. When the carparks suffered a $83.6 million deficit in FY 1999-2000, interest paid to the government was $175.1 million. In FY 2000-01, the deficit was $99 million and the interest payment $186.1 million. Taking away cost of interest, the carparks are immediately profitable: $91.5 million in 1999-2000 and $87.1 million in 2000-01. When Mr Mah and Mr Wee talk about deficits and the need to raise rates, they include both developmental and operational costs in their computations. This is not always the case with government projects. Take the MRT, for instance. The cost is split into two: MRT Corporation (now part of the Land Transport Authority) carries all developmental expenses, including interest payments; while SMRT runs the rail system. This allows SMRT to show a profit and go for a listing. If SMRT were to bear both developmental and operational costs, it would run at a loss, there would be no IPO - and fares would have to be raised sharply to cover its deficit. Can the same approach be applied to HDB carparks? If the government shoulders the building cost, the carparks will be profitable and there will be no need to hoist parking fees. But it is not fair for the government to subsidise motorists at the expense of those who take public transport, Mr Mah told Parliament. This leaves HDB with the full responsibility of running the carparks and making ends meet. Even if one accepts this, there are other solutions apart from raising parking charges. Why, for example, is it still paying the government 4.5 per cent interest when it can refinance its loans at better rates? At 3.75 per cent, its interest cost would be cut by $31 million a year - the exact same amount it would get from the parking rate increase. Thus, a simple refinancing of its loans would do away with the need for the unpopular rate hike. But a bigger issue is land cost. HDB may have overpaid for the land it bought for the carparks. Hence the deficit every year. When a private landlord overpays, he lives with the losses, as it would be suicidal to try to pass the cost to customers. (If, say, Ngee Ann City upped its parking fees to $10 an hour, motorists would take their cars and their business to Paragon and Mandarin Hotel.) As a monopoly, HDB has the luxury of being able to raise rates and make them stick. Car owners in housing estates may complain, but they have no other place to park. So they have been made to pay for HDB's mistake. From this perspective, Mr Mah is not wrong to say there is subsidy for HDB carparks. It is just that the subsidising has been passed from the government to hapless motorists.

There are good problems and there are bad problems. Audi dealers across the U.S. are having trouble selling vehicles, but not because of uncompetitive product or industry-wide sales woes. Automotive News reports the reason for Audi's sales troubles have everything to do with a supply shortage that stems from strong first quarter sales. Audi of America President Johan de Nysschen reportedly told AN that U.S. dealers are "short of everything," with Q5 and Q7 supplies running especially low. Last year, Audi cut U.S. deliveries by 6,000 units due to weak sales here in the States, but the German luxury automaker saw brisk sales in December followed by a first quarter that bested the first three months of 2009 by 35 percent. Audi now has a 29 day supply of product for U.S. dealers; about half the typical 60 day reserve and a third of the 88 day supply of March, 2009. De Nysschen says Audi has allotted an additional 3,000 vehicles to the U.S. for 2010, which should help dealers a bit. That said, we're thinking Audi isn't looking to beef up inventories too much considering the fact that the Four-Ringed automaker managed to keep incentives in check at a time when other automakers are dumping truckloads of cash on the hood to boost their sales.

The gov should actually remove the COE quota for motorcycle. To encourage more riders on the road. So that more people can rely less on public transport like MRT and Taxi. Its very convenient for those who need to get to work that is like 5km away from home. Encouraging more biker can certainly help solve many traffic congestion problem in Singapore City.