According to the preliminary data released by Statistics South Africa, in January this year the country's mining production increased by 7.3 percent year on year, while the seasonally adjusted mining production index in January increased by 5.5 percent compared to December 2012, following respective month-on-month changes of -0.1 percent and 12.7 percent in November and December last year.
The seasonally adjusted index of iron ore mining production in January this year increased by 0.2 percent, while the country's manganese ore production index increased by 26.1 percent, both compared to December 2012. On the other hand, South Africa's nickel production index in January decreased by 6.8 percent compared to December. On year-on-year basis, in January this year South African iron ore production rose by 33.4 percent, manganese ore production rose by 20 percent, while the country's nickel output rose by 0.3 percent.
Furthermore, the seasonally adjusted iron ore sales value at current prices in December 2012 increased by 42 percent compared to November, to ZAR 5.65 billion ($614 million), while the seasonally adjusted nickel sales value at current prices decreased by 26.2 percent compared to November to ZAR 449 million ($48.8 million). The seasonally adjusted manganese ore sales value in December at current prices was ZAR 904 million ($98 million), falling 18.9 percent month on month. The year-on-year percentage change at current prices in December last year was up 2.6 percent in iron ore sales, down 21.2 percent in nickel sales and down 1.5 percent in manganese ore sales.