The effect of the international trade on energy consumption in China

The effect of the international trade on energy consumption in China is studied by the method of input-output structural decomposition analysis. The change of Chinese energy consumption is decomposed into 6 aspects: the total energy intensity coefficients, technical coefficients matrix, domestic consumption, investment and stock change, exports and imports. The results show that from 1997 to 2000 and from 2000 to 2002, the technology was the most important factor to affect the energy consumption changes, and the net exports also affected the volume of the energy consumption. The changes of energy consumption from 1997 to 2000 is to reduce 24.458 million tons of standard coal by the influence of the total net exports; and the changes of energy consumption is to reduce 17.9022 million tons of standard coal from 2000 to 2002 by the total net exports influence. The main contribution of the paper is to analyze the influence of international trade on energy consumption from various sector, it is believed that the international trade structure of Metal sector, Chemical industry sector, Machinery and Equipment sector are the most important factors affecting the energy consumption. At last the policies suggestions are given.