Mining production in South Africa rose 2.4 percent from a year ago in July 2019, following a downwardly revised 4.1 percent fall in June and below market forecasts of a 4.2 percent increase. It was the largest gain in mining output since June last year, as production rebounded for coal (8.6 percent vs -1.3 percent in June); PGMs (2.7 percent vs -6.3 percent); iron ore (-23.7 percent vs -1.9 percent); building materials (0.6 percent vs -1.9 percent) and nickel (18.9 percent vs -13.1 percent). Additionally, other metallic minerals output advanced further (46.3 percent vs 43.4 percent). Also, production dropped less for gold (-13.1 percent vs -16 percent); chromium ore (-5.7 percent vs -3.8 percent) and copper (-23.8 percent vs -40.6 percent). On a seasonally adjusted basis, mining output went down 3.8 percent, after a downwardly revised 3 percent gain in the prior month. Mining Production in South Africa averaged -0.10 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 -1.60 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 1.30 in 12 months time. In the long-term, the South Africa Mining Production is projected to trend around 1.40 percent in 2020, according to our econometric models.