China's energy consumption per 10,000 yuan (about US$1,320.74) of GDP was 1.206 tons of coal equivalent in 2006, down 1.33 percent from 2005, Xie Fuzhan, director of the National Bureau of Statistics, said on Thursday.

This was the first time for China to see an annual decline in its energy consumption for every 10,000 yuan (about US$1,320.74)of GDP since 2003, indicating the country was developing in a way that is less wasteful and damaging to the environment, said Xie.

Total energy consumption in 2006 rose 9.61 percent year-on-year to 2.46 billion tons of coal equivalent, Xie said.

The energy consumption of secondary industry declined by 1.98 percent to 2.53 tons of coal equivalent per 10,000 yuan (about US$1,320.74) of industrial added value, while that of primary industry and tertiary industry rose 0.14 percent and 0.13 percent respectively.

Twenty-nine of the Chinese mainland's 30 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities saw their per unit GDP energy consumption decrease last year, while northwestern Qinghai Province reported an increase of 1.51 percent.

Figures for Tibet Autonomous Region are not yet available.

However, all regions but Beijing missed the target previously set for the reduction of energy consumption in 2006.

(Xinhua News Agency July 13, 2007)