China has seen an annual decline in its energy con­sumption per-unit GDP for the first time since 2003, Xie Fuzhan, Director of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) told media on July 12, 2007.

Reporting back on the 2006 national and regional per-unit GDP energy consumption index bulletin, prepared by the National Development and Reform Commission, Of­fice of the National Energy Leading Group and the NBS, energy consumption had dropped 1.33 percent over the pervious year, Xie said.

According to this communique, 2006 is the first time China has seen an annual decline in its energy consump­tion per-unit GDP since 2003, down by 1.33 percent over the previous year. Except Beijing, the rest of the country missed the projected target for 2006's per-unit GDP en­ergy consumption.

China consumed a total of 2.46 billion tons of coal equivalent in 2006, up by 9.61 percent over 2005. The energy consumption per-10, 000 yuan ($1,292) of GDP amounted to 1.206 tons of coal equivalent, down by 1.33 percent over the previous year. The energy consumption for per-unit added value in the secondary industry saw a decline. The energy consumption per-10,000 yuan of GDP for per-unit added value in industries above a desig­nated size was 2.53 tons of coal equivalent, down by 1.98 percent. The energy consumption per-10,000 yuan of GDP for per-unit added value in the primary industry was 0.347 tons of coal equivalent and that for the tertiary in­dustry was 0.414 tons of coal equivalent, up by 0.14 per­cent and 0.13 percent over 2005 respectively. While the energy consumption for per-unit GDP is falling. 2006 saw a rapid growth in the electric power consumption across the country, up by 14.2 percent year on year. Of the grow­ing power consumption, that for industry increased 15.6 percent, and for rural and urban residents' daily use in­creased by 14.5 percent. The proportion of electric power in the final energy consumption increased, from 38.1 per­cent in 2005 to 39.5 percent in 2006. This is the sharpest increase in the past three years. As a result, the power consumption for per-unit GDP increased 2.75 percent over 2005.

In 2006 per-unit GDP energy consumption in Beijing fell by 5.25 percent compared with 2005. Except Beijing, no other regions fulfilled the 2006 per-unit GDP energy

consumption reduction target. Of the country's 30 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities (not including Tibet Autonomous Region), 29 have a declin­ing per-unit GDP energy consumption. Some 17 regions saw a drop of over 3 percent, six regions saw a drop of 2 to3 percent and another six regions a drop of 1 to 2 percent. The three regions at the bottom of the list are Qinghai Province, the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region and the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, which reg­istered a growth of 1.51 percent and a decline of 1.01 percent and 1.06 percent respectively.

According to Xie, at the present stage, industries with high-energy consumption are still developing too fast and the economy is still in extensive growth mode. Due to a lack of necessary attention, definite responsibility, suitable measures, good policies, tangible implementation and ef­fective coordination, reducing energy consumption remains a tough task. Therefore, the government must play an effec­tive leading role by more effectively carrying out various policies, deepening reforms, improving the current systems and mechanisms and integrating all the market, legal and executive means, so as to promote industrial restructuring and technological progress and to get rid of outdated capaci­ties with high energy costs, Society as a whole should be encouraged to participate in the efforts of energy consump­tion reduction.