BEIJING - The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology announced Friday that the country's gold output in the first three months of the year reached 80.8 tons, up 10 percent year-on-year.

In March alone, gold output hit 29.8 tons, compared to 26.2 tons in the same period last year, a statement on the ministry's website said.

During the first three months, the nation's top 10 gold companies produced 41.3 tons of finished gold, accounting for 51.1 percent of total output, the statement said.

China continued to be the world's largest gold producer for a fifth year in 2011, as gold output that year hit 360.96 tons, up 5.89 percent year-on-year.