Tangshan

Earlier this week we discussed the reason for the recent drop in iron ore prices, which had been attributed to the discovery of massive data fabrication and misrepresentation of commodity production cuts in China (think OPEC), whose biggest steel-producing province was found lying about mandatory output reductions, and instead of curbing was in fact accelerating production.

A steel factory in Wu'an, Hebei province

Just days after a dramatic explosion at a Mexican fireworks market killed 29 people, on Saturday another powerful explosion rocked a fireworks factory in Tangshan, a city in the northeastern Chinese province of Hebei. According to China National Radio, at least two people died in the in the blast. According to People’s Daily, the firecracker factory was illegal.