BEIJING--China's gold output in the first five months this year rose by 4.68 tons, or 3.67 percent compared with a year earlier, to 132.02 tons, according to figures released Tuesday by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT).

Of the total, 109.13 tons of output came from gold mines from January to May, up 4.55 percent year-on-year, according to MIIT data.

Non-ferrous mines contributed 22.89 tons of output during the same period, down 0.3 percent year-on-year.

China became the world's largest gold producer in 2007. Its gold output reached 340.876 tons in 2010.