China's gold output ranked first in world for the fifth consecutive years, and Shandong Province is the largest gold output province in the country, according to the latest report from the China Gold Association.

China's gold output reached 360.96 tons in 2011, up 5.9 percent year-on-year. The top five provinces or regions in terms of gold output are Shandong Province, Henan Province, Jiangxi Province, Fujian Province and Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

The gold output in these five provinces accounts for 59.9 percent of the country's total.

China's gold output surpassed South Africa in 2007 for the first time.

In 2011, gold products traded at Shanghai Gold Exchange reached 7438.5 tons, up 23 percent over the same period the last year.