China power output flat in June

China produced 393.4 billion kilowatt-hours in June, making for the lowest annual growth rate since January.

Power production in the first six months of the year increased 3.7 percent over 2011, with the growth rate lessthan a third of last year's.

China's power plants are normally urged to pull out all the stops from June to August as temperatures soar and the country's air conditioners start to overwhelm the grids, but few are warning of shortages this year after a slowdown in industrial power demand.

Data issued earlier by China's National Energy Administration shows industrial power utilisation rose 4.6 percent in the first five months of the year, less than half the growth in the same period of 2011.

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