Mining production in South Africa decreased by 5% year-on-year in February, according to the latest data published by Statistics South Africa.

The main negative contributors were coal, which declined by 12.6% and diamonds, which fell by 45.3%. These two commodities contributed -3.7 and -2.5 percentage points, respectively, to the overall figure.

Iron-ore was, however, a significant positive contributor, increasing by 30.6% and contributing 3.1 percentage points, offsetting the negative contribution by coal and diamonds.

Seasonally adjusted mining production decreased by 4.9% in February compared with January, following month-on-month changes of 3.3% in January and 0.6% in December.

Additionally, seasonally adjusted mining production decreased by 0.3% in the three months ended February, compared with the previous three months. Diamonds were once again the largest negative contributor, declining by 23.9% and contributing -1.1 percentage points.

Platinum group metals (PGMs) were the largest positive contributor, increasing by 4.3% and contributing one percentage point.

Meanwhile, mineral sales at current prices decreased by 6.9% year-on-year in February, with the largest negative contributors being PGMs, which declined by 24.1% and coal, which fell by 11.4%. Other non-metallic minerals also decreased by 29.8%, contributing -1.4 percentage points, while iron-ore declined by 7.4%, contributing -1 percentage point.

However, chromium ore and gold were significant positive contributors, increasing by 128.1% and 37.8%, respectively. Chromium ore contributed 3.6 percentage points, while gold contributed 2.1 percentage points to the overall figure.

Seasonally adjusted mineral sales at current prices decreased by 1.2% in February compared with January. Month-on-month changes were -0.6% in January and 9.2% in December.

In the three months ended February, the seasonally adjusted value of mineral sales at current prices was 0.2% higher than in the previous three months.