Mining production in South Africa shrank 3.3% year-on-year in January 2019, following a downwardly revised 4.1% fall in December and compared with market expectations of a 3.9% decrease. Output shrank for gold (-22.5% vs -31% in December); iron ore (-27.7% vs -7.8%); diamonds (-37% vs 11.4%); coal (-6.4% vs -0.6%) and chromium ore (-7.3% vs -10.4%). On the other hand, output rose faster for platinum group metals (PGM) (28.1% vs 8.8%) and nickel (21.4% vs 4.7%) and it rebounded sharply for for copper (20.7% vs -1.5%); other metallic minerals (18.5% vs -18.5%) and other non-metallic minerals (6.3% vs -4.9%). On a seasonally adjusted monthly basis, mining production went up 0.2%, after an upwardly revised 1.6% decline in the prior month. Mining Production in South Africa averaged -0.07 percent from 1981 until 2019, reaching an all time high of 23.20 percent in October of 2013 and a record low of -17.40 percent in March of 2016.
Mining Production in South Africa is expected to be -2.08 percent by the end of this quarter, according to Trading Economics global macro models and analysts expectations. Looking forward, we estimate Mining Production in South Africa to stand at 0.10 in 12 months time. In the long-term, the South Africa Mining Production is projected to trend around 1.20 percent in 2020, according to our econometric models.