SHANGHAI - Authorities have released the first national standards on "high pure gold," a move that is likely to boost the country's gold consumption.

"High pure gold," as it is called in the standards, refers to the gold with purity of 99.999 percent, or "five nines," and is also the highest purity so far, a spokesman with the National Gold Standardization Technical Committee said Friday.

Generally speaking, a gold ornament with an amount of metal reaching 99 percent is called "pure gold," and more than 99 percent is called "thousand pure gold."

Currently in the Chinese market, the highest purity level of a gold ornament usually reaches 99.99 percent, or "four nines."

With the purity of 99.999 percent, the "high pure gold" used to be used in high-tech industry, such as aerospace. It requires a higher quality of the raw material and a more complicated technological craft.

"With the adoption of new national standards, the technology of manufacturing high pure gold will be gradually introduced into the consumers' market, which is expected to promote the development of the country's gold industry and bring new changes to the market of gold investment and consumption," said Sun Zhaoxue, president of the China Gold Association.

The new standards, approved by the the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine and the Standardization Administration of China, went into effect this month, Sun said.