China's refined copper production is expected to rise about 6 percent to more than 4 million tonnes in 2009, the official Shanghai Securities News said on Thursday, citing an executive in the industry group.

The growth was due to capacity expansion including a 300,000-tonne project run by Jiangxi Copper, China's largest smelter, the newspaper cited the China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association executive as saying.

China's reliance on imported copper concentrate increased as the growth of domestic ore production lagged behind smelting capacity expansion, the executive said.