BEIJING, Oct. 2 (Xinhua) -- China's proven gold reserves reached 12,100 tonnes at the end of 2016, making it the world's second largest gold holder after South Africa.
Zhang Yongtao, vice chairman of the China Gold Association (CGA), revealed the figure at a press briefing.
Last year, total gold transactions in the Chinese market, including trading at gold exchanges, futures exchanges and the over-the-counter gold in commercial banks, reached 70,000 tonnes, said Zhang, who expected the volume to exceed 100,000 tonnes by 2020.
China has been the world's biggest gold producer for 10 years and the largest gold consumer for four years. It aims to increase its annual gold output to 500 tonnes by 2020 from around 450 tonnes currently.
In the first half of this year, a total of 207 tonnes of gold were produced, down 9.8 percent from a year ago, according to the CGA.
Meanwhile, gold consumption rose nearly 10 percent year on year to 545 tonnes in the six-month period, with consumption of gold bars up more than 50 percent.
