China will increase its annual gold output to 500 tonnes by 2020 from around 450 tonnes currently, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT).

China has been the world's biggest gold producer for 10 years and the largest gold consumer for four years.

The country's gold output rose 0.76 percent year on year to 453.5 tonnes in 2016, with consumption hitting 975.4 tonnes.