The country's gold output rose 13.09% year-on-year to 372.048 tonnes last year, the China Gold Association said on Thursday.
The eastern Shandong province has recovered from production disruptions caused by shutdown of mines due to accidents and safety inspections in the previous year. Major mines in Shandong resumed production and ramped up capacity to a pre-pandemic level, while the northern Shanxi province added a new capacity. Both the factors also contributed to the growth.
Consumption in the world's largest gold consumer declined 10.63% to 1,001.74 tonnes in 2022, the association said.
The decrease was led by gold bars and coins consumption, down 17.23% in 2022 to 258.94 tonnes. Investment in physical gold bars declined because of the persistently high gold prices and volatility in exchange rates.
Meanwhile, gold jewellery consumption slid 8.01% to 654.32 tonnes on-year.
"Consumption for gold jewellery experienced a strong recovery in the beginning of last year, but then slid notably because of COVID flare-ups in the country," it said.
(Reporting by Albee Zhang, Siyi Liu and Dominique Patton; Editing by Shri Navaratnam and Uttaresh.V)
