Beijing: Gold production in China, world's largest producer of the yellow metal, grew by 6.59 percent to 140.7 tonnes in the first five months of this year.
In May alone, the country's gold output hit 31.2 tonnes, China's Ministry of Industry and IT said in a statement.
In the first five months, China's top 10 gold companies produced 70.3 tonnes of finished gold, up 0.96 percent year- on-year and accounting for nearly half of the country's total output.
The growth rate of the first five month is, however, lower than 10 percent that was registered in the January- March period of 2012.
China continued to be the world's largest gold producer for the fifth straight year in 2011, as gold output hit 360.96 tonnes, up 5.89 percent from the previous year, Xinhua reported.
PTI
First Published: Thursday, July 05, 2012, 11:28