JINAN - China has remained the world's biggest producer of magnesium for 12 consecutive years, with the country's 2011 annual output accounting for 85.4 percent of the global total, statistics released at a magnesium industry seminar on Thursday showed.

China has been the world's largest magnesium producer since 1999, with 660,000 tons of output reported last year, Wu Xiumin, a former official of the China Nonferrous Metal Industry Association, told the audience at the seminar held in Jinan, capital city of east China's Shandong province.

It is estimated that the country's yearly magnesium output will reach 1.5 million tons during the 2011-2015 period, with 700,000 tons to be exported.

Shandong province is famous for magnesite resources, with a minimum verified reserve of 350 million tons of magnesite. It has also established an association of 22 organizations involved in the magnesium industry, a major emerging sector in China due to the mineral's use in alloys for aerospace and defense applications.