Forum stresses energy efficiency

Domestic companies lag behind in green production

A steel mill's ability to improve its energy utilization rate has become its core competitiveness as the country faces increasing pressure from environmental issues, a government official said in Beijing on Saturday.

"The world's leading enterprises outrun first-rate Chinese companies in three aspects - more advanced management, better product range, and better energy-saving and emission-reduction capabilities," Gao Dongsheng, deputy director of energy-saving and comprehensive utilization department of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), said at a forum.

Gao said energy-saving and emission-reduction capability has also become the core competitiveness for companies in the petrochemical, construction materials, and nonferrous metals sector, as the nation is confronted with unprecedented pressure from environmental issues and is reeling from a supply glut.

China plans to build itself into a country with sound ecology and environment by 2020, and improving energy efficiency is necessary to achieve the goal, Gao said.

Energy efficiency, measured in terms of the value of products and services created by every ton of standard coal, is a key indicator for green economy.

President Xi Jinping called for efforts to revolutionize China's energy production and consumption habits and to rein in irrational energy use in a key speech on June 16.

Improved energy efficiency can be a powerful driving force for China's economic development in the future, analysts said.

Fu Chengyu, chairman of Sinopec, China's top refiner by revenue, said on Thursday that if the country could further boost its energy-efficiency level by 30 percent from the current level, the energy sector could support the nation to double its GDP.

However, experts attending the forum also said that many steel mills now barely make any profit due to the economic slowdown and overcapacity, making them less willing to improve their energy-efficiency level.

Li Xianwei, a chief researcher with China's leading steel mill Baoshan Iron & Steel Co, said big State-owned firms have no problem with executing the central government's energy-saving arrangements but they have concerns over regional protection.

"We are concerned about the smaller or private steel mills bypassing these efforts by using non-technical ways, such as cheating national inspection bodies with the help of local governments, putting us in a disadvantageous position," he said.