Mining production decreased three times more than expected, by 7.5% year-on-year in February
, after a 3.3% contraction in January, data from Statistics SA showed on Thursday. This is the fourth consecutive contraction for the sector and the lowest level since March 2016. Economists polled by Bloomberg expected a contraction of 2.5%.
Most sub-sectors reported lower production in February compared to a year earlier. The largest negative contributors were diamonds, down 48.3%; gold, down 20.6%; and iron ore, down 20.7%.Stats SA reports that its mining production index, which was set to 100 points in 2015, was 81.0 in February, down from 84.7 in January 2019 and 87.6 in February 2018.
The total sales of SA’s mining industry in February came to R38.62bn, a fall from R41.65bn in January but an increase from R34.91bn in February 2018. Stats SA shows coal is SA’s biggest revenue earner, with sales of R11.55bn in February followed by platinum group metals with total sales of R7.1bn, then iron ore at R5.3bn.
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