Bloomberg reported that China's power production fell 4% in October, the first decline since March 2005, as a slowdown in the world's fourth-biggest economy cut demand.

The National Bureau of Statistics said in a statement that electricity output declined to 264.5 billion kilowatt hours.

The China Electricity Council said in a presentation handed out at a conference in Beijing “Power demand in 13 provinces fell last month. China has 27 provinces and municipalities with provincial status.

According to preliminary data from the council electricity consumption dropped 1.4% to 270.9 billion kilowatt-hours in October. Power use in Shanxi, China's biggest coal-producing province fell 12%. It said power plant utilization in the first 10 months of this year declined 200 hours to 3,981 hours.

Mr Shan Baoguo head of research at China State Grid Corp.'s Beijing unit said China's power consumption growth may slow to between 4 and 8 percent in 2009 as the economy cools. The country's electricity production has maintained double digit growth for at least the last four years.