China's 9-Month Power Output Slows on Economy, Securities Says

By Winnie Zhu

Oct. 13 (Bloomberg) -- China's power output growth eased in the first nine months because of a slowing economy and natural disasters, the China Securities Journal said, citing an official at the China Electricity Council.

Power production rose 11.7 percent to 2.59 billion megawatts in the first nine months, compared with a 16.4 percent increase a year earlier, the newspaper said, citing Xie Jucheng, the council's fuel purchasing director. Output gained 8.9 percent to 287.2 billion kilowatt-hours in September, it said.

China's power production growth will slow to between 9 percent and 10 percent from a year earlier in the next few months and output will rise by less than 12 percent this year, three to four percentage points lower than 2007, it said.

China suffered the worst snowstorms in half a century in January and an earthquake killed more than 69,000 in May. China's economy grew 10.1 percent in the three months ended June 30 from a year earlier, slowing for a fourth straight quarter as exports cooled.

Xie didn't reply to calls made to his mobile phone and his office.

To contact the reporter on this story: Winnie Zhu in Shanghai at wzhu4@bloomberg.net.