Industrial demand for electricity hits near 16-yr high in Dec.

SEOUL, Jan. 17 (Yonhap) -- Industrial demand for electricity surged to a near
16-year high in December, due mainly to a cold spell and a rebound in the
manufacturing sector, the government said Sunday.
Sales of electricity for industrial use totaled 19.06 million megawatt-hours last
month, up 18.6 percent from the same month a year earlier, according to the
Ministry of Knowledge Economy. It was the largest on-year expansion since January
1994 when demand shot up 21.4 percent.
The ministry attributed the spike to unusually cold winter weather that has
gripped the country and caused people to turn up heaters at workplaces. A
steadily improving global economic recovery has also encouraged local companies
to ramp up production and facility operation.
Power demand from the steel sector jumped 42.8 from a year ago, while demand from
the machinery manufacturing and automobile sectors rose 24.5 percent and 33.8
percent, respectively, the ministry added.
Industrial power sales cover both manufacturing and mining businesses, and
account for roughly half of all domestic electricity sales provided by the
state-run Korea Electric Power Corp. They are a barometer of industrial health
because companies use more electricity during years when business is good and cut
back to cope with falls in orders.
Overall sales of electricity last month rose 12.1 percent to 36.63 million
megawatt-hours compared with the same period a year before. This includes power
used by educational institutions, homes, farms and for public use such as
streetlights.
For the entire year, sluggish economic conditions caused overall power sales to
edge up just 2.4 percent on-year -- the slowest growth tallied since 2000.
Power sales in the industrial sector, meanwhile, moved up 1.8 percent compared to
the year before.
yonngong@yna.co.kr
(END)