UPDATE 1-China February power output rebounds

Published: 08 Mar 2009 23:42:05 PST

BEIJING, March 9 - China's power generation increased for the first time in five months in February, Chinese media reported on Monday.

Power output in February increased 6 percent from a year earlier but still fell 4.3 percent to 487.4 billion kilowatt hours in the first two months of the year, Caijing magazine reported on its website (www.caijing.com.cn).

The February figure might have been skewed because China's Lunar New Year holidays, a period when industrial activity slows, was in January this year while it was in February for 2008.

In addition, the base figure might have been further distorted by the unusual winter storm in earlier 2008 that disrupted power supply and demand.

However, the decline in the combined output data for the first two months was smaller than the 7.9 percent in December and the record fall of 9.6 percent in November, indicating a possible recovery in demand in some regions amid signs of pickup in industrial production.

Power consumption in eastern Shandong province, one of China's major power users by region, gained 4 percent in February after declining 17 percent in January, a senior local government official told Reuters over the weekend.

Power demand at one time in the last month surged close to the record high seen in the summer of 2008 when the province was hit by the worst power shortage in decades.

"It is hard to predict if power demand this year will be lower than last year despite the generally weak economy," the official said.

China is scheduled to release official power output data later this week.