- China's gold output jumped 11.34 percent to a record of 313.98 tonnes in 2009, the China Gold Association said today, securing the country's position as the world's largest producer of the yellow metal. - Russia's gold and foreign exchange reserves fell to $435.6 billion on Jan. 22, from $441.4 billion on Jan. 15, central bank data showed today. - China Minmetals Corp, the country's top metals trading firm, plans to import more than 40,000 tonnes of refined copper from Poland's KGHM in 2010, a source familiar with the deal said today. - Kazakh copper producer Kazakhmys posted a 25 percent fall in fourth-quarter copper output today due to shutdowns and said production this year would be little changed from 2009. - Oil exports from Iraq's southern Basra terminal fell by nearly half today, dropping to 840,000 barrels per day (bpd) due to bad weather, a shipping source said.

Source