China's annual gold consumption is expected to be 1,200 tonnes by 2020, state-owned Shanghai Securities News reported on Wednesday, citing an estimate from a Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) official.

China, the world's top gold consumer and miner, consumed a total of 528.52 tonnes of gold in the first six months of 2016, down 7.68 percent from a year earlier, Shanghai Securities News said on Tuesday citing the country's gold association.

In comparison, China produced 229.102 tonnes of gold in the first half of this year, up 0.16 per cent from the same period a year ago, Shanghai Securities News said.