China's gold output grew 4.26 percent year-on-year to 282.007 tons in 2008, the China Gold Association (CGA) said on Tuesday.

Gold ingots [file photo]

The provinces of Shandong, Jiangxi and Henan accounted for 46.4 percent of the total.

China overtook South Africa to become the world's largest gold producer in 2007, with 270.49 tons of gold output that year.

The CGA also reported that trading volume reached 868.39 billion yuan ($126.96 billion) on the Shanghai Gold Exchange in 2008, up 174.84 percent from 2007.