Because of the recent rise of oil price, many Chinese have
postponed or even canceled their plan to purchase a car, and for
the same reason, the production costs of machinery and iron and
steel sectors also underwent a rocketing growth.
The latest statistics from China's National Bureau of Statistics
showed that China altogether produced 1.603 billion tons of
standard coal last year, up 11 percent over the previous year, but
energy supply was still insufficient.
From January to April this year, 24 provinces in China were
forced to impose restrictions on electricity supply, and during the
first quarter of the year, China had to imported 30 million tons of
crude oil, which led to eight billion US dollars trade deficit.
It is a signal of the current imbalance of resource distribution
in China, and furthermore, an implication that energy issue has
become a major challenge to China's economic growth prospect,
analysts said.
They warned that, the energy issue, in the latter half of
2004,would become a problem in almost every industrial sector, and
China's eastern parts, where most of the country's heavy industrial
enterprises are located, would suffer from the shortage most.
Xu Dingming, head of the energy bureau with China Development
and Reform Commission, told Xinhua that the energy issue in China
is no longer a demand-and-supply shortage now, and it is a matter
of how to raise the energy utilization efficiency.
China has suffered poor energy utilization efficiency for a long
time under the planned economy, Xu explained.
To solve the problem, Xu said, China has to take comprehensive
measures, noting that energy infrastructure construction should be
strengthened and energy utilization management should also be
optimized.
(Xinhua News Agency June 19, 2004)