15 Jun 2009 10:16

Industrial sector drags down China's power consumption in first five months - CEC

Shanghai. June 15. INTERFAX-CHINA - Shrinking power demand in the industrial sector hurt China's overall power consumption in the first five months of this year, according to the China Electricity Council (CEC) on June 15.

China's power consumption from January to May sank by 3.66 percent compared with the same period a year ago, according to CEC statistics. Power consumption in China's secondary, or industrial, sector shrank by 7.39 percent year-on-year to 984.96 billion kWh over the five-month period as the sector remained overshadowed by the economic downturn.

Meanwhile, China's power consumption in the primary, or farming, sector expanded by 4.81 percent year-on-year to 33.887 billion kWh and consumption in the tertiary sector grew by 8.21 percent year-on-year to 148.003 billion kWh.

Across all sectors, China's power consumption in May decreased by 2.57 percent year-on-year, according to the CEC.

-WV