China's power consumption rises 5% in May

BEIJING-- China's electricity consumption rose 5 percent year-on-year to 426.9 billion kilowatt-hours (kwh) in May, slowing from the 6.8-percent increase seen in April, according to newly issued data.

In the first five months, consumption increased 4.9 percent from the same period last year, the National Energy Administration said in an online statement.

Electricity consumption in the service industry saw rapid growth of 9.1 percent during the January-May period, followed by 4.7 percent in the secondary industry and 1.1 percent in the primary industry. Residential power use climbed 2.8 percent.

China added 24.66 million kilowatts of power production capacity in the first five months, including 6.84 million kilowatts of hydropower and 12.27 million kilowatts of thermal power, the NEA added.

Data from the National Bureau of Statistics issued last Sunday showed that China's electricity output growth also slowed, rising 4.1 percent year on year in May, compared with the 6.2-percent growth recorded in April.

The soft growth followed a string of other key economic data that have pointed to subdued strength in the world's second-largest economy.

China's industrial production rose 9.2 percent year on year in May, while the producer price index, a measure of inflation at the wholesale level, fell for the fifteenth straight month in May.

Exports edged up just 1 percent and imports dropped 0.3 percent, partly due to government regulations designed to crack down on hot money inflows disguised as trade payments.