Industrial production took up an increasing share of China's electricity consumption from 2000 to the first quarter of 2007, according to the latest report from the China Electricity Council.

In the first quarter this year, China's secondary industry used 540 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity, up 16.8 percent from the same period last year.

The figure was 75.12 percent of China's total electricity consumption in the first quarter, compared with 74.89 percent in 2006 and 71.75 percent in 2000.

Electricity consumption in light and heavy industries respectively rose 11.5 percent and 18.1 percent, which were 2.1 percentage points and 6.31 percentage points higher than the rise in the same period of last year.

Electricity consumption in the primary industry, or the agricultural sector, grew 3.5 percent in the first quarter, while that in the tertiary industry, or the service sector, rose 10.8 percent.

China consumed 718.91 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity in the first quarter, up 14.92 percent year on year.

Source: Xinhua