BEIJING - Output of China's ten major types of nonferrous metal increased by 7.27 percent year-on-year to 16.55 million tons in the first half of 2011, but the growth was much slower than the average figure of 13.8 percent during the past five years, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said Tuesday.

According to a statement put on the ministry's website, the added value of the industry was up 12.3 percent in the first half of 2011.

China's nonferrous metal enterprises with business revenue of more than 20 million yuan ($3.09 million) reported a 42.2 percent growth in profit to 65.42 billion yuan during the period.

Total business income of those enterprises was up by 37.1 percent to about 1.45 trillion yuan.

Foreign trade of nonferrous metals also saw a sound growth during the time. Import of nonferrous metals was up by 17.87 percent to $54.77 billion, while exports increased by 62.28 percent to $21.32 billion.

The ministry predicted that the output of the ten major nonferrous metals would maintain a stable growth of about 10 percent in 2011.