China’s proven gold reserves reached 12,100 tonnes at the end of 2016, the state news agency, Xinhua reported on Monday, quoting an official with the national gold association.
China has been the world’s biggest gold producer for 10 years and the largest consumer of the metal for four years, it said.
It added that the country planned to increase its annual gold output to 500 tonnes by 2020 from around 450 tonnes currently being produced.
Last year, 70,000 tonnes of gold were traded in China on spot-exchanges, futures-exchanges and over-the-counter at banks.
That amount was expected to exceed 100,000 tonnes by 2020, the Media quoted Zhang Yongtao, Vice Chairman of the China Gold Association (CGA), as saying.
In the first half of 2017, China produced 207 tonnes of gold, a drop of 9.8 per cent from a year ago.
Nevertheless, gold consumption rose nearly 10 per cent to 545 tonnes, with consumption of gold bars jumping by more than 50 per cent, the CGA said. (Reuters/NAN)