Northerners transplanted to southern climes often complain of the locals’ inability to deal with snow; “Back home we know how to deal with this,” says Wisconsin native, Virginia transplant Matt Mulroy. “Here you get out of school for a week!” Yet nowhere is the importance of snow cleanup as important as in China at the moment. Indeed, the country is engaged in a full-out “war on snow.” With hundreds of thousands of travelers stranded at rail and bus stations ahead of the Chinese New Year holiday, over 60 people killed, 200,000+ houses destroyed, 800,000+ damaged, power outages, water problems, and $8 billion USD announced in economic damage already, the effect on the country’s commodity production and food manufacturing could be severe. After the immediate Katrina-like relief efforts, look for more indicators about commodity production to emerge in subsequent weeks.
