China hopes to make it into the world's top three gold producers by the year 2010. Output has been growing at a rate of 10 percent a year over the past decade. Output in 1993 was 90 tons. China will therefore encourage domestic medium and large enterprises as well as foreign joint ventures to invest in gold production. China's gold reserves are estimated as 10,000 to 15,000 ton, of which proved reserves that can be used for industrial mining are about 3,900 tons.
China is now the world's fourth biggest consumer of gold, behind India, the United States and Japan.
Increased banking activity and a surge in trading volume at all of the city's major financial markets has made the first half of the year the fastest growing period for Shanghai's financial sector. Bank Deposits in the municipality increased by more than 28 billion yuan during the January to June period and loans rose by 11.38 billion yuan. Individual deposits in Shanghai surpassed corporate deposits for the first time, rising to more than 110 billion yuan. The lackluster performance of the stock market is attributed partially to the lack of new listings. Only six new issues were listed in the first half of 1995 compared to 70 new listings in 1994.