China’s gold output falls 7.9 pct in H1 -Xinhua

Reuters | July 25, 2018 | 5:40 am Precious Metals China Gold

China’s gold output fell by 7.9 percent in the first half of this year to 190.28 tonnes due to an environmental crackdown on illegal mining, Xinhua News Agency reported on Wednesday, citing figures from the China Gold Association.

Gold consumption in China edged up 0.3 percent to 541.22 tonnes in the first six months from the previous year.

Sales of gold jewellery in the country rose 6.4 percent to 351.84 tonnes, while investment gold, including gold bars and gold coins, were down by 15.7 percent and 18 percent respectively.

China is the world’s biggest gold producer and gold consumer.

(Reporting by Muyu Xu and Tom Daly, editing by Louise Heavens)