ExclusiveWas China’s ‘fireworks capital’ rushing its July 4 orders when deadly blast hit?
Industry insiders say Liuyang factories were under pressure to meet deadlines ahead of summer production ban
By noon on Friday, the death toll from the blast at Huasheng Fireworks Manufacturing and Display Company had reached 37, with one person still missing. Fifty-one people were still in hospital, with five of them in critical condition, according to state broadcaster CCTV.
Fireworks producers in Liuyang – a Hunan province city often called the “fireworks capital of the world” – were rushing to fill orders before a mandatory production ban from June to August due to heat-related safety risks, insiders said.
“For our American clients, we usually deliver products before June, for their Fourth of July [fireworks shows],” Joy Kong, the overseas sales director of a large fireworks company in Liuyang, told the South China Morning Post on Thursday.
Her company has multiple factories and employs 1,600 people. Every year, they sell about 300 shipping containers of fireworks to Europe, the United States and Southeast Asia, with annual foreign trade volume exceeding 100 million yuan (US$14.7 million).
Kong said the company’s overseas business had become somewhat of a routine, with US clients placing orders about a year ahead of time and the company starting production in November for delivery by June.