China estimates 2010 gold output at record 340 tonnes

China's gold output is expected to have exceeded 340 tonnes in 2010, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said on Friday, which if confirmed would set a new record. The production number would also amount to an increase of more than 8 percent over 2009, although that would mark a slowdown from the 11.3 percent growth posted the previous year.
China has raised gold production every year since 2004 to produce 313.98 tonnes in 2009. The ministry said output in the first 11 months of the year was 308.390 tonnes, up 9.2 percent from the same months of 2009. Gold miners produced 254.04 tonnes of gold in January-November, up 8.5 percent from a year ago; while output from gold refining companies rose 12.4 percent from a year earlier to 54.35 tonnes, the ministry said.