With imbalance between supply and demand in the global gold market, the world's gold production leader China is expected to continue to increase production. Deputy General Manager of China National Gold Group Corporation Du Haiqing predicted in Tianjin on Nov. 17 that China's gold output this year will be greater than 320 tons. China's gold production surpassed South Africa in 2007 and now ranks first in the world. China's gold output has been increasing for three consecutive years along with the rising prices, and China has remained the world's largest gold-producing country. According to the China Gold Association statistics, China's output of gold in 2009 totaled 314 tons, an increase of 11.34 percent. China imports about 100 tons of gold each year. Adding 100 tons of imports to China's output of roughly 314 tons last year would yield a total supply of about 414 tons. This year, gold output has consistently exceeded figures for 2009, at least until August, the latest month for which figures are available. In the first eight months of 2010, gold production was up 8.85 percent from the same period of 2009, at nearly 218 tons. China is finding new gold reserves faster than it is producing the precious metal, so there is no danger of the country exhausting supplies. China electrified the gold market last year when the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, part of the People's Bank of China, revealed that state reserves had jumped to 1,054 tons since the last such announcement in 2003, when it had 600 tons.

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