3.10.2013

China's Jan-Feb energy demand is slowing down

Although energy demand surged in the fourth quarter 2012, the consumption has been slowing down significantly since the beginning of this year.
Crude oil processed by Chinese refineries in January-February rose 3.0% on year to 1 million barrels per day, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

The processing volume still remained above the 1 million bpd level, however, the growth rate was lower than 3.7% that is the average of 2012. Moreover, the January-February growth was much lower than 8.1% which was scored in Q4 2012.


Electricity output shows similar tendency. Power generation by Chinese utility firms in the first two months was 757.3 billion kilowatt-hour. The year-on-year growth was 3.7%. It was slower than the 2012 average of 4.7% and significantly lower than the last Q4 average of 8.1%.

Meanwhile, the National Bureau of Statistics says the country's industrial output rose 9.9% on year in the January-February period. The growth value is close to the average of 10.0% recorded both in whole year 2012 and the last Q4.

Since electricity cannot keep in stock like petroleum, slow growth of power demand seems to show recent actual lower demand of energy in China.
 Is China able to achieve 7.5% growth of gross domestic product as planned?

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