Fireworks shortage

JH: The problem we have in China basically concerns the ports. There are a limited number of ports that handle hazardous materials, and because of a series of warehouse explosions they’re down to two ports. It’s important to understand that the warehousing was illegal and so one warehouse was shutdown which came at a horrible time for transporting fireworks to the US. loosing one port that was moving 70% of the fireworks caused a huge backlog. (How will this affect July 4th celebrations?) We were able to pull it together, but we’re about 10-15% behind in the volume of fireworks we hoped to have over here. (Have you been to a fireworks factory in China?) Absolutely. Everything there is made by hand, so the powder is grinded and they mix the chemical solutions to give the different colors, it’s a very intensive skill. (How many people does the firework industry in China employ?) several thousand, and this is basically the birthplace of gunpowder.