BEIJING — China's 10 major non-ferrous metals saw faster output expansion in the first eight months of this year, official data showed.

Total output reached 38.63 million tons in the Jan-Aug period, up 4.6 percent year-on-year, 0.8 percentage points faster over one year ago, according to the National Development and Reform Commission.

Output of copper reached 6.15 million tons, up 5.8 percent year-on-year. The country's lead production expanded 18.8 percent to 3.96 million tons.

Profits in the nonferrous metals sector rose 9.7 percent year-on-year in the period, and the growth rate was 3.7 percentage points higher than that of the first seven months, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed.