According to the preliminary data released by Statistics South Africa, in September this year the country's mining production decreased by 8.3 percent year on year, while the seasonally adjusted mining production index in September decreased by eight percent compared to August this year, following respective month-on-month decreases of 2.1 percent and 1.9 percent in August and July of the current year.
The iron ore mining production index in the third quarter of this year increased by 3.4 percent, while the country's manganese ore production index decreased slightly by 0.1 percent, both compared to the previous quarter of this year. On the other hand, South Africa's nickel production index in the quarter in question decreased by 5.1 percent compared to the second quarter of the year.
Meanwhile, in August this year the highest year-on-year seasonally adjusted growth rate in sales value in South African mining was recorded for manganese ore with 38.5 percent. The seasonally adjusted manganese ore sales value in August at current prices was ZAR 1.17 billion ($134 million), rising 12.5 percent month on month.
Furthermore, the seasonally adjusted iron ore sales value at current prices in August this year increased by 5.2 percent compared to July, to ZAR 5.8 billion ($661.6 million), while the seasonally adjusted nickel sales value at current prices decreased by 2.2 percent compared to July to ZAR 546.6 million ($62.6 million). The year-on-year percentage change at current prices was up 13.8 percent in iron ore sales and up 12.7 percent in nickel sales.