China's output of nonferrous metals is expected to reach 16 million tons this year, which will help the country top the world in the sector for four consecutive years, China Quality Daily said on Thursday.

In the first 10 months of this year, China's output of nonferrous metals reached 13.29 million tons, up 17.6 percent from the same period of last year, the report said.

The nonferrous metal industry has witnessed a fast and steady growth since 2002, Kang Yi, director of the China Nonferrous Metal Industry Association, told a national nonferrous metal industry work conference held Wednesday in Nanchang, capital of central China's Jiangxi Province.

In the January-October period of this year, the sales income of large scale nonferrous metal enterprises hit 638.59 billion yuan, or 80.8 billion yuan more than the total sales income achieved by the enterprises last year, Kang said.

Meanwhile, these enterprises paid 66.19 billion yuan in taxes and earned 42.49 billion yuan in profits during the period, 13.2 billion yuan and 10.1 billion yuan more than that of last year.

Kang predicted the sales income, the taxes and profits of the nonferrous metal enterprises would rise to 770 billion yuan, 80 billion yuan and 50 billion yuan, respectively, this year.

(Xinhua News Agency December 2, 2005)