According to the preliminary data released by Statistics South Africa, in March this year the country's mining production decreased by 3.5 percent year on year, while the seasonally adjusted mining production index in March also decreased by 3.5 percent compared to February, following respective month-on-month changes of 5.8 percent increase and 3.5 percent of decrease in January and February this year.
Meanwhile, the seasonally adjusted mining production of the country increased by 6.1 percent in the first quarter of 2013 compared with the previous quarter.
South Africa's seasonally adjusted index of iron ore mining production in the first quarter of this year increased by 11.2 percent, while the country's manganese ore production index increased by 19.8 percent, both compared to the fourth quarter of 2012. On the other hand, South Africa's nickel production index in the first quarter decreased by 8.8 percent compared to the previous quarter.
On year-on-year basis, in March this year South African iron ore production rose by 10 percent, manganese ore production rose by 15.2 percent, while the country's nickel output rose by 13.8 percent.
Furthermore, South Africa's seasonally adjusted iron ore sales value at current prices in February this year decreased by 2.6 percent compared to January, to ZAR 4.9 billion ($532 million), while the seasonally adjusted nickel sales value at current prices decreased by 2.2 percent compared to January to ZAR 515 million ($56 million). The seasonally adjusted manganese ore sales value in February at current prices was ZAR 893 million ($97 million), falling 27.5 percent month on month. The year-on-year percentage change at current prices in February this year was up 5.2 percent in iron ore sales, up 1.8 percent in nickel sales and up 0.5 percent in manganese ore sales.
