Economic waves from Sandy boost Chinese manufacturers

The ripples from Hurricane Sandy have spread far beyond the waters of the eastern coast of the US, making their presence felt in China as well.

The country has experienced both positive and negative outcomes.

"We dispatched 3,700 power generator units for household use on Monday alone," said Leng Wenqiang, general manager of the sales department at the Chongqing RATO Power Co. in Southwest China.

Leng told a local paper, the Chongqing Morning Post, that he expected the dispatch volume for early November to increase by 30 percent month-on-month. Ordinarily the company dispatches 15,000 to 20,000 units a month to its US clients.

One industry insider however, said few power generator producers in China would receive windfalls like the Chongqing company.

"Only few of us have US clients, as US technology is much more advanced than what is produced by Chinese firms. Most (of us) only have clients from Africa and Southeast Asia," a salesman surnamed Ma at the Beijing Borui Technology Co, a power generator dealer, told the Global Times.

Flash lights, sand bags and many other items have also become hot items, reports said.

Some 10,000 flights in the US have reportedly been canceled because of Hurricane Sandy, while in China some airlines also announced that they had cancelled flights.

International airports in New York have been almost entirely closed since Monday and won't open until Wednesday morning local time, and flights from Shanghai to New York by China Eastern Airlines have also been canceled.

Industry insiders in China said that fuel prices had been expected to fall in November, after an extended plunge in international oil prices, however this price reduction may be disrupted by the arrival of Sandy.

But Wang Jintao, an oil product analyst at Chem365.net, told the Global Times that the impact from Sandy on the domestic oil price adjustment date would be limited.

"Observations indicate that the (oil) production area in the Gulf of Mexico has not been hit by Sandy, meaning supplies from the US won't be affected much," Wang explained.

Under China's fuel pricing formula introduced in 2008, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), will consider a fuel price change if the average price for a basket of internationally traded crudes changes by more than 4 percent over 22 working days from the previous official price revision.