After a positive January, SA mining production retreated in February, falling both on an annual and a monthly basis.
Data published by Stats SA on Thursday show output fell 6% year on year in February and by 6.4% month on month. The median forecast in a Bloomberg survey of economists was 0.1% growth.
Monthly output rose 6.2% in January after a decline of 4.4% in December 2021.
Stats SA said the biggest declines were recorded for iron and platinum group metals, which fell 3.4% and 3.3%, respectively.
FNB chief economist Mamello Matikinca-Ngwenya said she had expected that mining production would be sustained in February, “albeit slower”, adding that Thursday’s numbers “reflected the two-sided risk factors of elevated commodity prices, and higher input costs and load-shedding”.
Nedbank was also expecting production figures similar to those in January following a general improvement in economic conditions, supported by the easing of Covid restrictions.
The poor data is was another upset after lower than expected retail sales and manufacturing production numbers for February were released this week.
Retail trade fell first time in five months to 0.9%, compared with a 5.5% median forecast increase in a Bloomberg survey of economists.
Manufacturing production, meanwhile, rose 0.2% year on year in February, sharply lower than a downwardly revised 2% in January and well below the 2.9% Bloomberg consensus.
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