China is likely to fail its 2006 GDP energy reduction target, said Xie Fuzhan, commissioner of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Thursday.
China's 11th Five-year Plan on national economic and social development set a 20 percent reduction target in per unit GDP energy consumption for the 2006-2010 period, equivalent to four percent per year.

Chinese economic planners are calculating the result for 2006.

"It's very hard to reach the goal," Xie said. "It is a massive challenge to save energy and cut consumption."

China's energy consumption per unit of GDP edged up 0.8 percent in the first half of last year, according to the NBS. Energy consumption per unit of added value increased in the coal mining, oil and petrochemicals, non-ferrous metal and other industries, and dropped in steel, building materials and textile industries.

Insiders have attributed high energy consumption to irrational industrial structure, a too-high proportion of heavy industry, lack of investment in energy saving and relevant technologies as well as inappropriate finance, taxation and credit policies.

However, Xie said, energy consumption began to drop in the third quarter of last year, the first time in the last three years, a "positive signal" which indicates that China's efforts in this regard have begun to pay off.