The Shanghai Gold Exchange saw a total traded volume of 687.30 mt for its various precious metals contracts for January-July 2006, up 44.29% from the same period in 2005, China Gold Association said in its latest monthly gold production report. The value was Yuan 106.78 billion ($13.45 billion), up 95.88% year on year.

Among the volume, gold of minimum 99.99% purity totaled 67.17 mt at Yuan 10.37 billion; gold of purity between 99.95-99.99% totaled 310.72 mt at Yuan 47.90 billion; and 50 g gold bars totaled 23.70 kg at Yuan 3.65 million.

Platinum's turnover was 16.48 mt, down 39.73% year on year while its value was Yuan 4.87 billion, down 25.08% year on year.

Meanwhile, the traded volume of the various precious metals contracts totaled 114.73 mt in July 2006, valued at Yuan 18.73 billion compared with 105.80 mt at Yuan 16.24 billion in June 2006. Among the July trade, platinum's volume was 1.77 mt, valued at Yuan 570.55 million, compared with 1.93 mt at Yuan 606.88 million in June.