BEIJING: China's gold output soared 11.34 per cent to a record 313.98 tonnes in 2009, maintaining its No.1 rank as the world's biggest producer of the yellow metal.

China's booming domestic gold sector reported 137.53 billion yuan (20.14 billion U.S. dollars) of gross industrial output value in 2009, up 18.56 per cent year on year, according to latest statistics from China Gold Association.

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

Shandong, Henan, Jiangxi, Fujian and Yunnan provinces contributed to 59.48 per cent of the total output.

The top ten gold firms produced 148.55 tonnes of gold, or 47.31 per cent of the country's total, Xinhua news agency reported.

A total of 4,705.90 tonnes of gold was 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, the association said.

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.