BEIJING, April 26 (Reuters) - China's gold consumption in the first quarter of 2024 climbed by 5.94% from a year earlier on soaring safe-haven demand, the country's Gold Association said on Friday.

Bullion consumption in the world's largest consumer totalled 308.905 metric tons in the first three months of the year.

Purchase of gold bars and coins jumped by 26.77% in the January-March period to 106.323 tons, or 34% of the total.

However, gold jewellery consumption fell 3% to 183.922 tons, or 59.5% of the total, as some consumers preferred to take a watchful stance amid rapidly rising bullion prices.

Soaring gold prices heightened operational risks for processing and sales enterprises of bullion, according to the association.

China's gold output made of domestically produced raw materials rose 1.16% to 85.959 tons, the association added.

Output of gold from imported raw materials soared by 78% to 53.225 tons, brining the total gold output in the world's second-largest economy to 139.184 tons, a rise of 21.16%. (Reporting by Judy Hua, Amy Lv and Ryan Woo; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Subhranshu Sahu)