China is expected to achieve its target of a 20-percent cut in energy use per unit of gross domestic product (GDP) in the five years to 2010 as planned, Li Yizhong, minister of industry and information technology, said on Friday.

With efforts in the fourth quarter, the energy efficiency goal for 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-2010) would be met, Li said.

Li also forecast energy consumption per unit of industrial value-added output would decline 6 percent this year from a year ago.

Previous year-on-year reductions were 1.9 percent in 2006, 5.4 percent in 2007, 8.4 percent in 2008 and 6.6 percent last year, he said.

Industrial value-added output measures the final results of industrial production -- the value of gross industrial output minus intermediate inputs such as raw materials and labor.

Official statistics showed China's consumption of energy relative to economic output fell 15 percent from 2005 to 2009.

However, energy use per unit of GDP rose 3.2 percent year-on-year during the first quarter this year. Energy consumption per unit of industrial value-added output was up 0.38 percent from one year ago during the first three months.

Energy use per unit of GDP in the first half of this year was essentially the same as the year before.

The government has introduced a series of measures to meet the energy efficiency target, including eliminating outdated industrial capacity and restricting new projects for expansion in energy intensive and polluting industries.

During the four years to 2009, small thermal power plants with a total capacity of 60 million kilowatts were shut down. For the first seven months this year, small thermal plants with another 10 million kW of capacity were eliminated.

Authorities also phased out inefficient production capacity of 87.1 million tons of steel, 60.3 million tons of iron and 214 million tons of cement in the past four years.

This year, the government was aiming to save energy from another 16 million tons of coal by shutting small thermal power plants with a total capacity of 10 million kW and eliminating inefficient production capacity of 25 million tons of steel, 6 million tons of iron and 50 million tons of cement.

(China Daily October 9, 2010)