The gold reserves "are not big for a large country like China so there won't be the possibility of gold selling", the People's Daily quoted Bank of China chief economist Zhu Min as saying. The Communist Party newspaper did not elaborate. It also quoted Zhu as saying the steady declines in world gold prices had, to some extent, affected China's gold production industry.

The newspaper gave no further details. China could fall short of its 175-tonne production target for gold this year as falling domestic and world prices discouraged output, state media have said. China's central bank shaved the domestic buying price of gold earlier this month to 69.9 yuan ($8.44) per gram from 72.64 yuan and the selling price to 71.3 yuan per gram from 74.1 yuan. It was the third cut this year - the central bank also lowered prices inMay and June - to bring prices in line with the global market. China produced 71 tonnes of gold in the first half of this year, against roughly 172 tonnes for the whole of last year, official statistics showed.