China's power generation expanded at the slowest pace in four months in June as economic growth cooled, damping electricity demand from heavy industries.

Power output rose 11.4 percent to 346.7 billion kilowatt- hours last month compared with a year earlier, data today from the Beijing-based National Bureau of Statistics show. That's the slowest pace since February's 7.9 percent expansion.

China's economic growth eased to 10.3 percent in the second quarter from 11.9 percent in January-March, the bureau said today, after the government succeeded in tempering credit expansion, investment spending and property speculation. Industrial output rose a less-than-estimated 13.7 percent.

Power production for the first six months rose 19.3 percent to 1.97 trillion kilowatt-hours.

Demand for electricity from industrial users rose 16 percent in June compared with more than 20 percent in the previous two months, according to the China Electricity Council, which compiles monthly data for the government. China's overall power consumption increased 14 percent last month, the National Energy Administration said yesterday.

Crude-oil output in the world's second-biggest energy consuming nation rose 7.4 percent from a year earlier to 16.9 million metric tons, down from May's record of 17.15 million tons, the bureau said. Half-year production rose 5.3 percent to 98.5 million tons.

The statistics bureau didn't give figures for coal production in today's release.