BEIJING, April 28 (Xinhua) -- Zhongjin Gold Corp. Ltd., one of China's leading gold producers, saw a plunge in net profits last year due to output cuts amid stricter environmental regulation, according to a company statement.
Net profits attributable to its parent company stood at 196 million yuan (about 29.1 million U.S. dollars) in 2018, down 32.73 percent year on year, Zhongjin Gold said.
Revenue came in at 34.45 billion yuan, up 4.63 percent from the previous year.
The company attributed the profit decline to its move to close gold mines at nature reserves and scale back or halt production at mines with outdated technology and equipment as the government toughened environmental policies and scrutiny.
The company's output of refined gold fell 17.6 percent year on year to around 73 tonnes last year.
China produced 401.1 tonnes of gold in total in 2018, the world's largest output volume for the 12th consecutive year but down 5.9 percent from 2017, data from the China Gold Association showed.
However, gold consumption continued to rise, up 5.73 percent to 1,151.43 tonnes last year and remaining the world's largest for the sixth year in a row.
Increasing gold consumption domestically will bring more growth opportunities to gold producers, Zhongjin Gold said.
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