By Bloomberg News Jan. 7 (Bloomberg) — China curbed electricity use because of coal shortages, Florida citrus growers braced for more nights of freezing temperatures and snow blanketed southern England as icy weather continued to grip the Northern Hemisphere. China will be hit by a new cold front this weekend, with snowstorms forecast for the provinces of Jiangsu, Anhui, Henan and Hubei on Jan. 9, China National Radio reported. Mexico will have “severe winter” weather. In the U.S., frigid air sent orange-juice futures up as much as 4.3 percent to a two-year high yesterday and natural gas jumped to a 13-month peak. “The cold weather is hitting a lot of the more populated areas, such as western and northern Europe, a lot of the eastern U.S.,” Bob Tarr , a meteorologist at AccuWeather Inc. , said in a telephone interview yesterday. “It’s a rare pattern, and unusual to see this cold weather affecting a number of major population centers and persisting for about three weeks.” The Chinese provinces of Jiangsu, Hubei, Henan, Hunan and Jiangxi and the municipalities of Shanghai and Chongqing have limited electricity consumption because of fuel shortages, the official Xinhua News Agency said today, without giving details. Some aluminum smelters in Henan, the largest producing province, received notices from power suppliers to prepare for stoppages, according to CRU International Ltd. China is the world’s biggest maker of aluminum used in homes and cars. There have been “periodic power supply disruptions” in provinces including Henan and Hunan, though the impact “is not serious” so far, Wan Ling , a Beijing-based analyst, said by phone today. She declined to identify the smelters affected. Mexico Freezes Mexico will have “severe winter” weather in most of the nation from today, the National Meteorological Service said in an e-mailed statement. Temperatures below freezing are forecast for 10 states and Mexico City, it said. At least seven deaths in the U.S. have been blamed on icy roads or cold-related accidents, the Associated Press reported. In the U.K., which is enduring the longest cold snap since 1981, the British army was called out to help rescue motorists from as many as 1,000 vehicles. Eurostar canceled four trains between London, Paris and Brussels, a spokesman, Richard Holligan , said yesterday. Temperatures in New York City are forecast to be as much as 13 degrees below average by Jan. 10, according to MDA Federal Inc.’s EarthSat Energy Weather of Rockville, Maryland. The U.S. Northeast is responsible for about four-fifths of the country’s heating oil use. Temperatures will be 25 degrees below average in Houston and St. Louis on Jan. 9, EarthSat said. About 72 percent of households in the Midwest use natural gas for heat. Citrus at Risk Florida’s orange growers face frigid weather again early today after freezing conditions did minimal damage yesterday, according to AccuWeather Inc. The cold in the past 24 hours harmed less than 1 percent of the crop, said Dale Mohler , a senior meteorologist with AccuWeather. Citrus may sustain “light damage” overnight as freezing weather returns, said AccuWeather’s Dan Kottlowski . Oranges can be ruined when exposed for too long to temperatures below 28 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 2.2 degrees Celsius). “The entire Florida crop is at risk for these next few nights,” Pete Spyke, the owner of Arapaho Citrus Management Inc., said yesterday by telephone. The company has 300 acres (121 hectares) of citrus groves, with 60 percent producing oranges, 25 percent grapefruit, and the rest tangerines. Lower Crop Florida’s crop will fall to 135 million boxes in the season through June from a year earlier, the smallest in three years, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said Dec. 10. Last season, growers packed 162.4 million boxes, each weighing 90 pounds (41 kilograms). Florida is the largest producer after Brazil. Orange-juice futures for March delivery fell 1.5 cents, or 1 percent, to $1.4205 a pound on ICE Futures U.S. in New York yesterday. Earlier, the price rose to $1.4965, the highest level for a most-active contract since Jan. 2, 2008. French electricity demand may reach a record next week as temperatures are expected to drop as much as 7.7 degrees Celsius below average, the grid operator Reseau de Transport d’Electricite said on its Web site. Temperatures were at or below freezing across most of northern and central France, sinking as low as minus 4 degrees Celsius in Paris, according to the forecaster Meteo-France .
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China Curbs Power Use, Florida Citrus Threatened as Cold Weather Persists
