Mining production in South Africa fell 5.6 percent year-on-year in November 2018, following a downwardly revised 0.2 percent gain in the previous month and well below market expectations of a 0.75 percent rise. Output dropped for diamonds (-21.7 percent vs 27.2 percent in October) and nickel (-5.9 percent vs 8.8 percent). Also, production rose less for platinum group metals (PGM) (0.9 percent vs 21.4 percent); and manganese ore (15.8 percent vs 18.9 percent) while decreased further for other non-metallic minerals (-12.4 percent vs -7.2 percent); and building materials (-12.4 percent vs -3.3 percent). In contrast, output declined at a softer pace for coal (-0.7 percent vs -1.0 percent); gold (-14 percent vs -14.8 percent); iron ore (-19.7 percent vs -24.6 percent); other metallic minerals (-5.9 percent vs -9.1 percent); and copper (-5.0 percent vs -22.8 percent). On a monthly basis, mining output went down 5.8 percent, after a 3.0 percent gain in October. Mining Production in South Africa averaged -0.06 percent from 1981 until 2018, 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.