Shipping woes cut Chinese fireworks exports

[LiberalFighter]

Source: Yahoo (Associated Press)

LIUYANG, China - Chen Tiezhong will likely spend the Fourth of July worrying about the future of his sprawling fireworks factory. China, where fireworks were invented, is running short of ports from which to ship the dangerous cargoes abroad.

China's fireworks industry provides 98 percent of America's overall needs, and 80 percent of the pyrotechnics needed for professional displays. But the U.S. fireworks business stands to lose $25 million to $30 million this year because of lost orders, says Julie Heckman, executive director for the American Pyrotechnics Association.

/snip/
In February, a blast at a fireworks warehouse led to a ban on fireworks shipments at the southern port of Sanshui, Guangdong province, which previously handled 20 percent of China's pyrotechnic exports.

Then, in late March, officials stopped fireworks shipments at Nanshan, another Guangdong port, after inspectors found explosives that had been declared as something else.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080629/ap_on_re_as/china_fireworks_woes_1

[maseman]

1. This may sound rather trivial

But dozens of communities around the country will not have fireworks this year for Independence Day. It will probably be even worse next year. I work with pyrotechnics and heard about this a few months ago.