Heavy rain has eased drought conditions in Chongqing municipality, but dry weather and higher temperatures persist elsewhere in southwest China.

Zhang Xu, deputy director of the Office of State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters, said that Chongqing had received between 50mm and more than 100mm of rain between 23 March and 9 April.

Drought conditions continue, however, in the provinces of Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan and Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region. The crisis is affecting industry, as well as households and agriculture. In Guangxi, output of some non-ferrous metal producers has plunged and could stop altogether if the dry weather continues, according to a report by Xinhua. In Nandan county, companies have cut production by 30 per cent, said Miao Zhilong, head of China’s economic and trade bureau.

Elsewhere in the region, one of the country’s top manufacturers of electrolytic zinc, the Hechi-based Nanfang Non-ferrous Metal Smelting, has shut down two production lines at its zinc plant this year.