China's gold consumption for jewelry reached 201.1 tons in 2003, ranking the world's third after India and the United States, according to the Chinese edition of the gold yearbook.

The yearbook shows that China's gold consumption for jewelry has stayed in the world's top three list. China's gold output in 2003 reached 213 tons, ranking the fourth in the world after South Africa, the United States and Australia.

Over the past four years, China's gold consumption has kept at about 210 tons, and the gold consumption for jewelry increased by only 0.7 percent in 2003 over a year ago, said Wang Lixin, China manager of the World Gold Association.

Wang said that China's newly-opened gold market still had a huge potential to accommodate more gold products. The developing market should pay more attention to attracting the youth by showing more 18K gold fashion products, and attracting the elderly by stressing the gold value for investment.

The 36-year-old gold yearbook, published by the World Gold Association, is an authoritative book on the world's gold markets, gold production and gold reserve. The Chinese edition of the yearbook was first published recently.