BEIJING (Commodity Online): Unlike South Africa, China has managed to set a new record in gold production in 2009 and even reduced the number of producers in the country.

According to reports, China’s gold output rose 11.34 per cent to a record of 313.98 tonnes in 2009. This is despite a big fall in number of producers. China has been closing and integrating some small and obsolete gold producers. The total number of gold producers fell from more than 1,200 in 2002 to about 700 in 2009.
China’s annual gold output exceeded South Africa in 2007 for the first time to become the world’s largest gold producer.

It is the third year in a row for China to rank the first in gold production in the world, according to the association.

The domestic gold sector reported $20.14 billion of gross industrial output value in 2009, up 18.56 per cent year on year.

The top five production provinces were Shandong, Henan, Jiangxi, Fujian and Yunnan, contributing to 59.48 per cent of the total output.

The top ten gold firms produced 148.55 tonnes of gold, or 47.31 percent of the country’s total.

A total of 4,705.90 tonnes of gold were traded on the Shanghai Gold Exchange involving 1.03 trillion yuan and about 6.81 million hands of gold futures were traded on the Shanghai Futures Exchange, involving 1.53 trillion yuan.

South Africa’s gold output fell in November, after a study confirmed this week that the nation had fallen to third among the ranks of gold-producing nations.

Gold output declined by 4.9 per cent in November on a 12-month comparison, while total mining production dropped to 1.6 per cent compared to the same month in the previous year.

Once the largest gold producer in the world, South Africa has fallen behind China and Australia after its gold production sank by five per cent last year.