BEIJING, June 16 (Xinhua) -- China's daily power generation topped 9.76 billion kwhs in the first ten days of June, the highest so far this year, the China National Power Dispatching and Communication Center said Tuesday.

    Although the figure was down 0.17 percent over the same period last year, the decline was less than the previous month. Power generation dropped 3.5 percent in May over the same period last year.

    Market analysts attributed the increase of the figure mainly to a recovery in the country's heavy industry -- including cement, steel and iron, and coal.

    Statistics from the National Bureau of Statistics showed China in May produced 250 million tonnes of coal, up 9.6 percent over the same period last year, steel output was 57.29 million tonnes, up 7.4 percent year on year.

    "Fast development and surging outputs of heavy industries in May further indicated a recovery of the country's economy, and the momentum continues in June," said Yang Fan, an analyst with the CITIC Securities.

    Zhu Baoliang, an economist with State Information Center, said the country's heavy industries were expected to use more power in the following months as the country's economic stimulus began to take effect.

    Power generation, a key indicator of a country's economic health, began to decline from late 2008, indicating a slowdown in the economy. In November, power generation dropped 9.6 percent year on year, the biggest fall in a decade.