INDEPENDENCE DAY CELEBRATIONS MIGHT BE A LITTLE BLEAK this year due to a severe shortage of fireworks display rockets.

The problem began on February 14 when a massive fire at a fireworks exporting compound in Foshan City destroyed a large major storage of completed fireworks.  The fire burned for 24 hours and consumed 15,000 cartons of aerial displays and 20 warehouse buildings.  (Reported HERE.)

Following the fire, the Chinese government slapped some severe restrictions on packing and shipping fireworks.  Now the country’s factories, which supply over 90% of the fireworks sold in the U. S., are sitting on large stocks that were scheduled to be shipped to America in time for the July 4th holiday.

Add in the fact that only one shipping line in the world, Maersk, is willing to transport fireworks across the ocean and you have a tight crimp in the supply line.  Prices on both retail and commercial display fireworks are expected to be at least 30% higher this year.

The New York Times has a story that goes into the problem in detail and also gets into how this Summer’s Olympics is messing things up even more.  You can read it HERE.

Hat tip to Hillary H. for helping with the story.

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