A curious item showed up in a number of German news sites over recent days, reporting on an unusual case of winter-time algae contamination in a pond in Hanover in northern Germany.
The cause seems to be unusually warm late-winter temperatures across Germany, as noted in this recent German news report:
...It's already been a spring-like weather week in much of Germany. And it looks like the good weather will continue.
Forecasters predict temperatures as high as 17C could be recorded in Germany this weekend.
As The Local reported earlier this week, the country has been enjoying a break from the winter, with mild temperatures and a lot of sunny afternoons.
It’s down to an influx of sub-tropical air, which is warming up much up the country, and other parts of Europe.
On Friday, temperatures climbed to 16C in parts of western North Rhine-Westphalia, while Bremen and Hamburg enjoyed 15C. Around 14C was recorded in Kiel and the Berlin/Brandenburg area.
Perhaps this might be a sign that Germany could be in for some more shocking blue-green algae problems as temperatures rise over the next few of months?.
Another report, possibly of more direct relevance to this company, was on an English-language China news site a few days ago, on water projects in Xinjiang, in the west of that country:
...The Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region will speed up the construction of major water conservation projects in the vast area to increase and better allocate water resources and provide a boost to economic development, said local officials and experts.
"Xinjiang has been experiencing a serious shortage of water resources which have been overstretched and are in need of better management," said Li Gengsheng, head of the regional Water Resources Bureau.
The region plans to launch three major water conservation projects along seasonal rivers in southern Xinjiang this year to increase and better regulate water supply for industrial and agricultural use, and help reduce flood risks, Li said.
Shohrat Zakir, chairman of the region, said in January that Xinjiang will accelerate the construction of key water conservation projects this year as water is a critical natural and economic resource.
You may recall that in August last year one poster noticed that the company was recruiting for positions based in Xinjiang, and you wonder if these might have been related to the water projects that were mentioned in that report.
This is just my opinion, but I have some reservations regarding the involvement of this company in the Xinjiang region. I noticed one report earlier today that stated Thermo Fisher would no longer sell genetic sequencers to Xinjiang due to concerns of human rights abuses in that region.
Whatever Phoslock is doing in Xinjiang would not of course be directly linked to such abuses, although it would indirectly fall into part of some plan for the region directed by Beijing, likely aimed at cementing its control over the area.
Personally, I would like to see the company focus more on growing the international business in the years ahead, hopefully eventually getting to the point where the revenue from the rest of the world exceeds that of China.
PET Price at posting:
37.0¢ Sentiment: None Disclosure: Held
(20min delay)
