The world’s leading gold producer mined even more of the precious metal last year. China increased its gold output by 11.66% to 403 tons in 2012, the country’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said Monday.

The country’s major gold producers realized 380.79 billion yuan ($60.57 billion) in industrial output value, up 33.91%. Their profits rose 4% to 35 billion yuan, hardly impressive and mostly due to the fact that gold prices declined last year after the fiscal cliff fiasco abated in Washington. The popularly traded SPDR Gold (GLD) exchange traded fund is down 4.7% year to date, and down 10.4% over the last 12 months.

China’s gold consumption rose 9.35% to 832.18 metric tons last year, according to the China Gold Association.

The country is the world’s leading producer of gold now for the sixth year in a row, with output around 100 times what it was in 1949. It ranks No. 5 in terms of gold reserves, with around 1,054 tons of gold, or less than 2% of its $3.2 trillion in foreign reserves. The U.S. is by far No. 1 with over 8,000 tons of gold in storage, accounting for 76.6% of its foreign reserves, according to the World Gold Council

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